Friday, December 18, 2015

St. Petroc Monastery-Some Background and History

According to its first and original website

“St.
Petroc Monastery was started in 1992 after Fr. Michael arrived in
Tasmania from England, it is within the jurisdiction of Archbishop
Hilarion, Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia,
Diocese of Australia and New Zealand.The Monastery does not own any
property, being presently in a leased building which belongs to an
unrelated secular organisation. The present accommodation is very small,
with a minuscule chapel, on the lower slopes of Mount Wellington. The
Monastery has the mechanism for attached Monastery Parishes and has a
married Priest doing Orthodox Chaplaincy work with the Air Force and
merchant seamen. God willing, we will make our appearance on the campus
of the University of Tasmania in 1998, as the accredited Orthodox
Chaplaincy there.”

This website goes on to mention St. Petroc Monastery as

“…being presently in a leased building which belongs to an unrelated secular organisation…”.

St.
Petroc Monastery is in fact the ground floor two-bedroom flat (in a
block of three) located in South Hobart, Tasmania. The “unrelated
secular organization” which owns the block of flats is the “RAAF
Veterans' Residences Trust” [RAAF=Royal Australian Air Force] and is
rented out to Fr. Michael under the provisions of its charter

Their website (http://www.defence.gov.au/RAAF/rvrt/residences.htm) gives the following details

http://www.defence.gov.au/RAAF/rvrt/residences.htm“RAAF Veterans' Residences TrustThe
RAAF Veterans' Residences Trust was established by a Commonwealth Act
on 12 December 1953 for the purpose of providing residences for former
members of the Air Force and their families who are in necessitous
circumstances.

Our Residences 4 McRobies Road, HobartThree two-bedroom flats “

A picture of this block of flats is also featured on the banner to the websiteNote: (Father Michael served in the RAAF between 1961 and 1966)

Another of the St. Petroc Monastery websites includes a brief reference to the monastery’s objectives.“The
primary task assigned by the Archbishop to Saint Petroc Monastery is to
identify and implement the means of bringing the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic
people (the overwhelming percentage of the population) to return to the
Orthodox heritage of the British Isles and western Europe. For this
task, Saint Petroc Monastery, its people and parishes are blessed to the
Western Rite.

Saint Petroc Monastery is incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act as a non-profit organisation.-Further information about the Monastery and its plans and activities can be obtained from:

E-Mail: Contact Saint Petroc Monastery Here”

The following refers to SPM and its attached parishes and missions

“…Saint
Petroc is semi-eremitical which is different from cenobitic (eremitic
meaning 'hermits'), and is after the Anglo-Celtic eremitic/anchorite
monastic uses. It is also, unlike Christminster or Mount Royal, tasked
with missionary work which is why it has attached parishes and missions
along with others associated. The Benedictine works also have some
Oblates.”
http://p097.ezboard.com/IMITATIONS/felyforumfrm35.showMessage?topicID=8.topic

The
South Hobart flat appears to be the “flagship” site for SPM and. With
two exceptions missions listed as being “affiliated” have no street
addresses . “St Dyfan, 40 Alexander St” is the “faith centre” at the
University of Tasmania where Fr. Michael has unpaid visiting rights. A
website provides a listing and some details.

The
Orthodoxwiki website contains the following basic information about the
monastery(as at 30th October 2006). It appears that most material has
been provided by SPM.“Saint Petroc Monastery is a semi-eremitic
monastic community for men in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
located in Cascades, Tasmania. The current superior is Hieromonk
Michael, and follows the Sarum practise of the Western Rite. The
Monastery consists of two affiliated houses: Saint Petroc House, with a
small chapel, at Cascades; and Holyrood House, with a small chapel, at
Avondale.

HistorySaint Petroc Monastery was founded in 1992
as an Anglo-Catholic monastery. In 1995 it turned to Orthodoxy and,
under instruction, was placed under the direction of Patriarch Ignatius
IV of Antioch. In 1997, the monastery was received into ROCOR, under the
omophorion of Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand,
with the mandate to not only continue using the Sarum practise of the
Western Rite, but to do so with the explicit intent of attracting people
of Anglo-Celtic ancestry to Orthodoxy through this rite. The Monastery
also received permission to create attached monastery missions and
parishes. In 1998, the monastery began one of these attached missions in
Launceston, named for St Stephen. In the same year, Fr Michael becomes a
chaplain at the University of Tasmania.

In 2003, the Saint
Colman Prayer Book, compiled by the monastery, is authorised for use in
ROCOR. In June of the next year, the Monastery calls a meeting of
Western Rite clergy in Australia and New Zealand - which included the
priests attached to the monastery and two Antiochian clergy - to discuss
the future of Western Rite in Australasia. “

Father Michael - Some Background

ROCOR
received both Michael Wood and Barry Jefferies in 1997. However I have
had little success in researching Barry Jefferies’ background, and in
any case his role in this initiative appears to be a passive and
subordinate one.

Fr Michael provides the following information about himself on an ely ezboard forum in December 2006

“Born
on the 13th of July 1940 when the family was living in South Perth, Fr.
Michael was one of two sons of an Army Officer. A year later, he was
baptised in the Church of England by his father's regimental chaplain.
In the late 1970s he spent time in the USA where he joined the
Continuing Anglican movement, serving on various diocesan and provincial
committees and boards, he remained active in Church of England as well
as Continuing Anglican affairs. In 1994, he was appointed as Archdeacon -
Administrator of an ARJA missionary Diocese. In 1995, after a meeting
in Portsmouth and correspondence regarding reception into Orthodoxy
using the Western Rite, and having resigned his English archdeaconry, he
and those associated with Saint Petroc Monastery, were temporarily
placed under the direct obedience to the Patriarchate in Damascus. In
April 1997, Archbishop Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of
Sydney visited Saint Petroc Monastery and met Fr. Michael, Fr. Barry and
Peter Ball. They discussed the possibility of transferring their
reception into Orthodoxy to ROCOR. Archbishop Hilarion (Kapral) received
Fr. Michael, Fr. Barry and Peter Ball through Baptism and Chrismation
on the 13th of August 1997. During the following days they were ordained
to the Sub-Diaconate, Diaconate and, on the 15th and 16th of August
1997, Archbishop Hilarion ordained Fr. Michael and Fr. Barry to the
Priesthood in Exaltation of the Holy Cross church, Newtown. The monastic
tonsuring was done the next day by Archbishop Hilarion in Saint Petroc
Monastery chapel, Cascades, Fr. Michael being named for Saint Michael of
Synnada. The same day the Archbishop blessed Saint Petroc Monastery its
parishes and people to the Western Rite. “See http://p097.ezboard.com/SUPERIOR-OF-SAINT-PETROC-MONASTERY-FR-MICHAEL/felyforumfrm30.showMessage?topicID=11.topic

A “meet the chaplains” website contains the following information:“Father
Michael is a Hieromonk (Priest-monk) of the Russian Orthodox Church
Outside of Russia. He came to Tasmania from England in 1991 and was
appointed as the Orthodox Chaplain to the University in 1998. His main
office is in the Chaplaincy Centre and he is therefore on campus most
days of the week.Telephone: 6226 7855Email: "Fr. Michael" chaplain.hobart@utas.edu.au”

See http://www.kingston.org.au/utas_chaplaincy/chaplains.html

According
to official government records, Michael Owen Mansbridge Wood (Father
Michael) was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1940 (see attestation
papers). He was the younger of two sons of Harry James Wood (born in
Australia) and Constance Violet Wood (born in “British South Africa”).

Michael
Wood’s father’s occupation is shown as “merchant” on his enlistment
papers. Other service documents show his occupation as “salesman”. He
served in the militia (reserve) while working and in July 1940 was
mobilized for full time service with the rank of Captain. All of his
service during WW2 was within Australia. He was demobilized in December
1945 and was later involved for a period in the running of a hotel in
Hall's Creek, in the north of Western Australia.

Source: National Archives of Australia

Michael
Wood grew up in Bassendean, a outer Perth suburb. After 3rd year he
left high school with a Junior Certificate and worked in several
different companies as a clerk for about 5 years before enlisting in the
RAAF as a clerical assistant.

He
joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1961 and was discharged
in late 1966. Between 1967 and circa 1979 he lived in Sydney, New South
Wales. He then left Australia for approximately 8 years before
returning to Perth in 1987 where he remained for approximately 2 years.
He again left Australia in 1988 or 1989, and again returned in 1991.

He
was apparently interested in religion even at an early age. Professor T
Stannage’s father was rector of St Marks Anglican Church in Bassendean,
Western Australia. Professor Stanage’s recollection is as below:

“…I was a boy/teenager at Bassendean. I recall Mrs Wood as an affable,hardworking parishioner and probably in the Mothers Union. Michael was alanky religious sort of young man, pe[r]haps a server at St Marks! …”

(Email from Professor T Stannage)

Service with the Royal Australian Air Force

He
initially
impressed during the RAAF recruitment process and was assessed as being
suitable for a position of Education Assistant even though his level of
education was below the normally accepted standard for this position.
However he then failed the trade test and was placed in a different
position. His subsequent on-the-job performance assessments were
generally poor - but sometimes qualified with the sentiment that he
seems to have plenty of ability but his performance always falls far
short of expectations.While in the RAAF Michael
Wood applied to study theology but his application was rejected by the
Ordination Board of the Diocese of Melbourne. The RAAF Chaplain involved
in his application did not support his application. See p155 of his
service file (go to November 2010 update below for details on how to
access this)

He left the RAAF in late 1966 at the same rank
(Aircraftsman-basically equivalent to a private in the army) as when he
had joined and moved to Sydney. There he worked in various organizations
in a variety of jobs as a clerk in general office duties. “The Pauline”
(the magazine of St. Paul’s College, University of Sydney”) in the
1976, and combined 1977/78 issue records an M. Wood as a tutor in
economics whom I believe is the same Michael Wood who is now Fr.
Michael.

Late 1970’s -1988

In the late 1970’s Michael Wood left Australia for the USA and, perhaps later, the UK.He
was married in Australia in the 1960's and this marriage ended in
divorce. While in the USA he apparently married twice. The first
marriage ended in divorce. The third marriage has apparently never been terminated and is therefore still current. He has one daughter from this third marriage

In
1987 church records indicate that he had returned to Australia and
place him in Cottesloe (a Perth suburb), Western Australia.

“…I
do not remember how long he was in WA but it wasn't much earlier than
1987. I can remember him addressing an Anglican Society meeting held in
the deanery of St. George's Cathedral, Perth and again he was present at
the Prayer Book Society, Claremont. My recollection and that of my wife
seems to be the summer of 1986/87…”(Email from TAC Clergy).

“ I have searched some old files and have come up with a few details which may help you in your research.Oct 28 1987: ina[u]gural meeting to form a Continuing Church in WA six people present under chairmanship of MMM.

It may help to know that Evening Prayer was conducted at Old Post Office, Cottesloe each Sunday afternoon from this date.

Feb
21 1988: Vote of no confidence in leadership of MMM over various
issues. At this meeting MMM resigned and left and has had nothing to do
with the ACCA in WA since that date. “(Email from TAC Clergy, Perth, Western Australia)

Archbishop Hepworth’s recollection of Michael Wood is as follows:

“…The story of Michael Mansbridge-Wood is a highly convoluted one. He wasindeed in Perth, although not holding any clerical office. From our files,he was involved there in 1987. By December 1988 he had created analternative group, and subsequently left Western Australia. “(Email From Archbishop Hepworth, TAC)

Bishop Mercer recalls:

“
In 1988 I spent a few days in Perth, Western Australia, where I met a
number of people interested in starting the ACC(A) among them was Mr.
Michael Mansbridge-Wood. I fear that I now forget some of those people.
If I remember Mr. Mansbridge-Wood at all, it was because he seemed to
want to get his way in all things, even in the most trivial, and because
others found him difficult to work with, as distinct trom [sic] taking
instructions. “(email from Bishop Mercer, Ottawa, Canada(Note: MMM refers to MMW)

The Period 1990-1996

He then apparently travelled to and spent several years in Colorado, USA before returning to Australia in 1991 or 1992.

The
orthodoxwiki entry describes the monastery as being “Anglo-Catholic”
until 1995 after which “it turned to Orthodoxy and, under instruction,
was placed under the direction of Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch”. A
newsgroup posting also refers to the period 1995 to 1997. It is not
clear from the posting (below) whether the monastery was then
“Antiochian” had tried unsuccessfully to become “Antiochian”.

The
following describes the status of SPM as "effectively stavropigial"
whereas in fact it was unsuccessful in engaging with Damascus.

"Fr. Michael went back to England in 1994 where he had meetings with Fr
Michael Keiser of the Antiochian Orthodox Church. He was in England in
1995 and again in 1996. At this time Saint Petroc Monastery was
effectively stavropigial, directly under the guidance of His Beatitude,
the Patriarch of Damascus." http://orthodoxwesternrite.wordpress.com/st-petroc-monastery/ (April2013)

"Speaking as one of "these people", we came
into ROCOR because the local Antiochian Orthodox Bishop would not
countenance Western Rite and we spent two fruitless years trying to get
the Patriarchate in Damascus to have the basic courtesy to answer the
letters that one of their Archpriests instructed us to write to them.
Then the Monastery was visited by the ROCOR Archbishop along with an
Archpriest and a Priest. The Archbishop treated us with the utmost
kindness and courtesy and after investigating us at great length and
continuing discussions, we were welcomed into ROCOR. We have a great
loyalty to our Archbishop, who has proved to be an exceptional father to
us. That is why we stay. We are free to act throughout the diocese.
Others, in other dioceses are not so fortunate and we all try to keep a
relatively low profile because we do not wish to attract further attacks
against our Archbishop by those who abhor the thought of WRITE.
contamination. Fr. Michael."http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OrthodoxWest/message/442

An email from ROCOR also refers to this period

“
From 1994 to 1996 Mansbridge-Wood took the title The Venerable Father
Michael, Archdeacon of London and Administrator of the Diocese of
Lambeth, within the Continuing Anglican Confession. It was in this
capacity that on 11 April 1997, Fr Michael approached the Russian
Orthodox Church for reception…”(email from ROCOR)

The
history of the monastery prior to its reception into ROCOR between 1991
and 1997 is very unclear. I could find no information regarding any
formal theological training undertaken or theological qualification (or
indeed any tertiary qualification) achieved by Fr Michael either prior
to 1991, or since.

Only recently (in 2012) , in a personal email, Kenneth Graydon did confim that he had ordained Michael Wood into the Anglican Rite Jurisdiction of the Americas. In 1997 Michael Wood was listed by the Tasmanian Registrar General as being amongst
“Authorised Celebrants - Ministers Of Religion For Recognised
Denominations”.

In
1987, according to Archbishop Hepworth’s email, Michael Wood did not
hold a clerical office. No details relating to his transition from laity
in 1987 to clergy sometime later in 1991, and subsequently elevation to
Archdeacon in the mid 1990’s could be found.

The following entry
in Wikipedia refers to a diocese in Australia in 1987, and contains a
reference to a diocese in Lambeth in 1993 “administered by an Archdeacon
who later converted to orthodoxy”.

Fr Michael’s brief history published recently stating

“
In 1994, he was appointed as Archdeacon - Administrator of an ARJA
missionary Diocese. In 1995, after a meeting in Portsmouth and
correspondence regarding reception into Orthodoxy using the Western
Rite, and having resigned his English archdeaconry…”

on the Ely forum seems to tie in with the following reference.

Anglican Rite Jurisdiction of the AmericasFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The
Anglican Rite Jurisdiction of the Americas was an Anglican
traditionalist church originating in 1981 from within the Anglican
Catholic Church in the United States and with the assistance of the
Philippine Independent Catholic Church. Citing political infighting
within the Anglican Catholic Church, four of its clergy sought the help
of the Philippine church in consecrating them to be bishops of a
daughter province in which each of them would serve as bishop ordinary
of a diocese covering one-quarter of the United States.In 1981, the
PICC's ecumenical officer, The Most Rev. Francisco J. Pagtakhan,
consecrated, in San Diego, California, The Rt. Rev. G. Wayne Craig of
Ohio, The Rt. Rev. Ogden Miller of Oregon, and The Rt. Rev. Robert Q.
Kennaugh of Texas. (The fourth candidate, The Rev. Herman Nelson of
Florida asked for his consecration to be delayed. In 1985 he was
received back into the ACC).The Anglican Rite Jurisdiction of the
Americas sought to consecrate bishops with valid orders in an unbroken
lineage of apostolic succession (the PICC had Old Catholic Union of
Utrecht orders) in order to serve the needs of conservative
Episcopalians who objected to the revision of the 1928 Book of Common
Prayer, to the ordination of women, and to The Episcopal Church's
relaxation of traditional rules concerning marriage and sexuality. One
of ARJA's hopes was to be a force for uniting other Continuing Anglican
churches which had remained independent of the Anglican Catholic Church.Of
the initial three bishops of the church, Bishops Miller and Kennaugh
are deceased, and Archbishop Craig retired in 1987. Along with his
former parish in Columbus, Ohio, he subsequently joined the Episcopal
Missionary Church. At its height, ARJA consisted of approximately a
dozen parishes in the USA.In 1987, ARJA gained a diocese in
Australia, headed by Bishop Kenneth Graydon, and in 1993 after ARJA's
Archbishop Stephen Clark had visited England, they jointly began a
missionary Diocese of Lambeth in London. Before its demise, this latter
had several successive Episcopal Visitors and was administered by an
Archdeacon who later converted to Orthodoxy.When efforts to unite
with other Continuing Anglican bodies repeatedly proved unsuccessful,
and following the departure of most of its parishes to various other
Continuing Anglican jurisdictions, ARJA began conversations with the
Episcopal Missionary Church. The EMC had been founded in the early 1990s
by the Rt. Rev. Donald Davies, a retired ECUSA bishop. The talks were
successful and a merger of the remaining ARJA parishes and clergy was
agreed upon, thus ARJA ceased to exist. The last ARJA Primate,
Archbishop Stephen Clark now serves with the EMC.

No clear information could be found about how he acquired the title of Archdeacon of Lambeth.

Also unclear is the
London-based reference “The Venerable Father Michael, Archdeacon of
London and Administrator of the Diocese of Lambeth” title when he
appeared to be living in Tasmania (Australia) during that period. Perhaps this title was self-bestowed

The
following (from orthodoxwiki) of this page does not explain how the
monastery was antiochian and answerable to Damascus (see below), yet the
superior was at the same time Archdeacon of London and administrator of
the diocese of Lambeth?

From http://orthodoxwiki.org/User_talk:Colin

Aristibule,

I"t's
pretty clear that this lazarus person doesn't know anything about
churches - much less Orthodoxy. Patriarch's don't have to answer letters
and what Fr. Michael seems to be saying in his emauil dredged up from
six years ago is that he wrote some sort of reports to the Patriarch
under instructions from senior Antiochian clergy, which implies to me
that the senior clergy were answering him. Anyway, since I do have a
fair knowledge of the Australian and New Zealand Orthodox monasteries,
and I have access to most of them since they trust me, I shall continue
to correct entries made on any of them, that I know to be incorrect.
Personally I'm not going to ask any of them for bios because I know that
having been tonsured a monk is supposed to leave his former life behind
and begin again, the Church gives him that new clean slate. That's why
this sort of behaviour - trying to drag someone down because they
apparently don't like him, really annoys me. I think this orthodoxwiki
should demand that people give their real names, their real emails and
the name of their Orthodox Priest before they are permitted to post or
edit anything. That way, if they behave like this, they can be referred
to their bishop. I admit to being shocked that an Orthodox Priest would
run this site on any other lines.Colin"

Note: Aristibule
identifies himself as the webmaster for the monastery. Colin is not
identified but from the context appears to be Fr Michael Wood.The
following is an excerpt from a Tasmanian government website
(http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/ctee/old_ctees/euth.htm) refers to a
submission from “The Venerable Father Michael”.

”1998 PARLIAMENT OF TASMANIACOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE REPORT ONTHE NEED FOR LEGISLATION ON VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIAREPORT NO. 6Report of the Community Development CommitteeHouse of Assembly…………………………………Submission 160. The Venerable Father Michael,St. Petroc Monastery,St. Petroc House, McRobies Road, South Hobart 7004”

This
enquiry commenced in late 1996/early 1997 and prepared a final report
in 1998. One of the submissions recorded is that from “the Venerable
Father Michael

An email from Archbishop Hepworth also refers the same period:“I
was personally involved in the failure of the "Diocese of Lambeth" that
emerged in the mid 1990's, through meetings with a number of BBC
executives whom he had promised ordination as priests. I have
letterheads from 1995 confirming his [Michael Wood’s] title as
Administrator of the Diocese of Lambeth. In the late 1990's, he appeared
again as a Russian orthodox monk in Tasmania, and has visited Perth on
at least several occasions in the past four years……. “(email from Archbishop Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Australia)

From
these fragments of information it appears that Michael Wood became
involved with the “Anglican Rite Jurisdiction of the Americas” in the
early 1980’s. He may have met Archbishop Hilarion during this period
while he was in the U.S.

In 1987 he was involved with the
Traditional Anglican movement in Perth and apparently tried
unsuccessfully to attract a group of followers. He later went to the
U.K. for several years and returned to Australia in 1990 or 1991. It is
possible that the ARJA (Bishop Kenneth Graydon) may have ordained him
then.

In 1991 Michael Wood became involved with the Traditional
Anglican community in Hobart Tasmania and tried unsuccessfully to
attract followers.

Later still, in 1993 it appears that the ARJA
may have appointed him as an Archdeacon in the”diocese of Lambeth,
London”. It is not clear whether Fr. Michael was living in Tasmania or
in the U.K. then. The ARJA disintegrated in the mid 1990’s the Episcopal
Missionary Church took over some ARJA units. Somewhere around this time
“he and those associated with Saint Petroc Monastery, were temporarily
placed under the direct obedience to the Patriarchate in Damascus”.

Reception by ROCOR

In 1997 the monastery was received into ROCOR

“…Archbishop
Hilarion Kapral received the Michael Mansbridge-Wood into the Orthodox
Church through baptism and chrismation on 13 August 1997. The following
day Michael was ordained to the diaconate and, on 15 August 1997,
Archbishop Hilarion ordained Fr Michael to the priesthood. The same day
the archbishop received the St Petroc Monastery and its parishes into
the Australian and New Zealand Diocese…”(Email from ROCOR)

It
is not immediately clear why ROCOR, which is essentially the “Outside
of Russia” Orthodox church, would receive and ordain two Australians
(Barry Jefferies was the other person) who apparently speak no Russian,
have no Russian connections, have a very “foggy” theological background,
and also a “foggy” set of theological credentials and experience.

Also very unclear is
why ROCOR would assimilate an objective, (Anglo-Saxon Celtic Western
Rite Orthodoxy) which seems far from the general objectives of ROCOR.

“The
primary task assigned by the Archbishop to Saint Petroc Monastery is to
identify and implement the means of bringing the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic
people (the overwhelming percentage of the population) to return to the
Orthodox heritage of the British Isles and western Europe. For this
task, Saint Petroc Monastery, its people and parishes are blessed to the
Western Rite.”

http://www.orthodoxresurgence.com/petroc/

The
following post suggests an aspiration for SPM to grow by attracting
followers from existing churches and thereby cause “howls of clerical
pain”.

………...Fr.
Gregory is right to focus upon mission: Recently I went to assess the
possibility of starting a second Parish in a city of 1.5 million people.
The mission being to people outside Orthodoxy. I was opposed vehemently
by the ethnic Priest of the existing Parish in that city, who simply
saw no reason to reach out to the non-Orthodox and regarded another
Parish (English speaking) in that city as a challenge to his authority.
Even such few clergy as do see a reason to reach out to the
non-Orthodox, nevertheless resist tooth and nail any diocesan missionary
initiative as somehow an intrusion on their local authority. How do you
deal with the anti-missionary attitude at this grass-roots level? Until
it is dealt with, it is very difficult to lead by example. This
Monastery has a task from our Archbishop to actively go and bring people
into Orthodoxy - I have at present, current enquiries from clergy and
people to become Orthodox in six cities. These will of necessity involve
new Parishes - can you imagine the howls of clerical pain when these
Parishes are erected? I think that the jurisdictionalism stands on a
foundation of parochial turf defence (ego, power) and the
jurisdictionalism (ego, power, ethnicity) stands in the way of mission
(it powerfully deters converts) and the lack of missionary activity
stands in the way of defeating jurisdictionalism. Some jurisdictions
seem still to be awestruck by the Church of England and refuse to accept
converts from it - they therefore refuse to spread Orthodoxy. So, who
will stand up first and lead the missionary drive and, in doing so,
point up the essential redundancy of three or four Orthodox Bishops in
his area? Any takers?

Activities of SPM while under ROCOR

Following
SPM’s reception by ROCOR Fr Michael started a variety of initiatives.
The following lists the publicly visible activities which I could find.

· An active presence on several yahoo internet groups

· An ABC [Australian Broadcasting Commission] Radio interview

"I also spoke to Father Michael, of the Russian Orthodox
monastery of St Petroc in Tasmania.
The Russian Orthodox Church has had it pretty tough during the last hundred
years or so, with persecution under the Soviet regime at home, and the
privations of exile abroad. But exile isn't necessarily a bad thing for
religion, in fact many Jews will tell you that exile is precisely what has
given Judaism its characteristic identity. So I asked Father Michael if the same mixed blessing has
shaped Russian Orthodox Christianity.Father Michael: Well
Orthodoxy's
been around for 2,000 years; it's managed to keep itself quite
distinct and secure for 2,000 years. It's suffered a lot of persecution
over
time, it's not just in this century with the Communists in Russia and
other countries, but also prior to
that in Turkey, with the
invasion of Islam and so on, and it continues to be under pressure in
the Middle East, and very considerable pressure. So Orthodoxy
has learned over the millennia; it doesn't so much adapt itself, it just
knows
how to handle itself when it's being persecuted. Christianity always
works best
in periods of persecution. It in a sense, you might say toughens it up,
but it
sorts out who are the real Christians.David Rutledge: So would you
say then, would your message to the Pope this week as he convenes his Cardinals
for this meeting where they're going to discuss the future of the Catholic
church, do you think that this secularisation that seems to be worrying the
Pope, is something that could actually turn out to be good for the church in
the long run, because it's going to have that toughening effect?Father Michael: That's
different. You have to look at the differences, in a sense, between Orthodoxy
and the other Christian organisations in the world. Orthodox Christianity
doesn't have a pyramid power structure, with a single point of power at the top
from which all government and all decisions are initiated. Neither is it a
professionally managed democracy. Now both of those structures are liable to
corruption over time, one, because individuals or small groups of distant elite
can be easily subverted by Satan into governing on entirely human terms. The
other, because it enables infiltration, quite easy infiltration, of liberal
humanists with their agenda, capturing the organisation. Now both of those kind
of organisations, the infiltration of them, and the takeover of them, has
happened to Christian organisations in this past century. Now Orthodoxy has
historically relied on the whole membership jointly holding and being
responsible for keeping securely of the whole faith, it's not the exclusive
task of Patriarchs or Bishops or Priests, but everybody equally. So it's very
difficult from outside interest to entirely capture the church, as has happened
with other Christian organisations.Now you take the early church in the British Isles and Western Europe. Right at the beginning it was surrounded
by active Paganism. The later church, by the end of the first millennium, had a
triumphalist flavour about its worship, because it seemed to have won the
battle. That triumphalism is quite misplaced today. We're back in the
surrounding Pagan world, and we need a means of addressing it. So by going back
and seeing how our forefathers dealt with the surrounding Western Pagan
societies 1500, 1800 years ago, and reviving our genuine Orthodox Christian
heritage, we can bring it to bear on that society around us today. An interesting little aside: most of the people who
approach me because they found out from our website what we're doing, or
something like that, are young people who want what we're doing. They realise
that a lot of people are experiencing an emptiness at the centre of their life
- people outside the church, people who are in no church at all. And mostly
they cannot, even to themselves, articulate what that emptiness means. They're
often repelled by what they perceive as the relative sterility of mainstream
Western Christianity. Now Orthodoxy is essentially a mystical Christianity -
although when it needs to be, it can be extremely practical. But they are
starting to see that it is essentially a different way of answering the needs,
it doesn't need therefore to somehow prettify itself up or to suit some
particular fashion of the time. If the faith is real, if God really exists, if
the whole of the Christian message is true, then it doesn't need to change
anything.David Rutledge: And it
doesn't bother you that young people might be approaching the Orthodox church
as a sort of selection in the salad bar, if you like; you think that once they
get into it a bit they will find that it's not just another choice?Father Michael: Oh that's
made very clear. Nobody joins the Orthodox church easily. You don't just sort
of bowl in and say 'I think I'll join this church this week and then wander off
next week'. We don't let you. You'd be in inquirer for quite some time before
anyone even received you into the Orthodox Church. We want our people to be
serious about it, and so if they weren't serious when they started, they will
be when they're officially received.Lyn Gallacher: Russian Orthodox
priest, Father Michael, of St Petroc monastery in Tasmania."

·
Attendance at a conference in 1999 where the following research proposal
was listed. No papers supporting this proposal were presented and I
could find no indicatione that this work had ever progressed

Work Done on the Liturgical Remains of the Church of the British Isles to the Beginning of the Seventh Century

The
proposed paper is in the nature of a report on work carried out at St
Petroc monastery over the past two years. This project has been one of
looking at the church in the British Isles (and of necessity, to some
extent in Brittany and further afield) and most particularly the
development of liturgical worship in that church during the period of
the fourth seventh centuries. The object of the exercise was to
determine if the liturgical remains from the latter part of the subject
period could be restored in any practically usable form. Secondary
objectives were to clarify the whole course of liturgical acquisition in
the British Isles during the early period of Christianity, to ascertain
if possible the earliest known liturgical traces, and the liturgical
course subsequent to the holding of the Synod of Whitby.

Bronwen Neil, Australian Catholic University

·
Numerous representations to the University of Tasmania, starting in
1997, to become involved in unpaid chaplaincy work at UTAS. These
representations were unsuccessful until 2001. See email from UTAS below

UTAS
Chaplaincy“…Michael Wood made a number of representations to the
university from 1997 onwards requesting to be appointed as a Univesity
chaplain. This request was not acceded to and he has not been
"accredited" by the University as a chaplain.

In correspondance
over the period June to November 2001 the University advised that four
chaplains had been appointed over the preceding 10 years on the basis
that they worked ecumenically and that there was no indication from
students or staff that the University required any additional chaplains.

The
University further advised that a new policy was being implemented
which allowed for the creation of a Faith Centre in Alexander Street, to
be made available for "visiting representatives from religious
organisations" This policy also removed the official role of chaplain.
The policy is available on the Web athttp://services.admin.utas.edu.au/religious/index.html

Michael
Wood was a member of the implementation committee for this centre and
has subsequently used those facilities as a visiting representative from
the Russian Orthodox Church. …”(Email from UTAS)

“..Michael
Wood is not, and has never been, "accredited" as a "UTAS Chaplain"
though he (as do some of the others) calls himself a Chaplain - which is
fine

From June 2001 onwards, following the change in policy, he
was invited to assist in the development of (and subsequently to use)
the Faith Centre as a visiting representative of the Russian Orthordox
Church and to that extent was authorised from this date…”(follow up Email from UTAS clarifying dates) ie June 2001

·
Further internet activity in 2003 or 2004, particularly on the “York
Forum” (see www.ezboard.com). Subsequently he established the “Ely
Forum” also at www.ezboard.com”. I seem to recall one entry describing
this forum as his “cyberministry”.

A claim to have prepared a “St Colman’s Prayer Book”. Apparently this has now been completed

Claims
by SPM to have prepared various editions of “the St Petroc Magazine”,
only one of which was apparently published on the internet

Most
recently there have been some blogs about SPM and its affiliates. They
contain a few photographs but otherwise have little information content

Evangelical Progress of SPM

SPM
has never to my knowledge published any statistics or reports about its
evangelical activities. From a variety of secondary sources and
indicators I estimate that over the period of nearly 10 years since its
reception into ROCOR, SPM has achieved perhaps at most a dozen committed
“followers” worldwide. Roughly there are about 3 or 4 in Australia,
another 3 or 4in the USA, and a perhaps few in Europe and the UK).

Some
of these followers have been associated with SPM since its inception in
the 1990’s. Others have joined over the past decade, mainly in more
recent years. I could find no indicators that this “inner group”
contained anyone who had significantly changed their religious
“direction” as a result of SPM’s influence or any evidence of
significant “Greenfield” conversions”. It appears that most or all were
all strongly precommitted to Write/orthodoxy even before becoming
closely involved with SPM.

There
also seems to be a second tier of followers – not so committed-which
seem to number another six or so. The number of people in this second
group is fairly constant but the composition of this second tier seems
to change frequently. It appears that individuals come, stay for a while
and then leave, and are replaced by yet others. For some reason they
just don’t stay. I notice too that there are many “spectators” who come
and go without making any contribution to the discussion.

The following provide qualitative information about SPM’s evangelical progress.

One is an email from ROCOR in 2004 referring to progress made by SPM

“…He
[Michael Wood] came to ROCOR and was received through baptism,
chrismation and then reordained to start a missionary group using the
Western Rite. In fact nothing visible has occured to date.(email from ROCOR)

During
a personal interview in 2004 involving SPM and its progress, Archbishop
Hilarion indicated that nothing had been achieved. Clearly ROCOR, as
the sponsor, of the SPM evangelical initiative has been disappointed.

There
are other indicators, such as an apparent inability to attract funding
(bemoaned in Ely forum posts), soul searching about marketing etc which
underline the lack of progress and absence of temporal success of SPM’s
evangelical initiatives. The following shows a marked change in
expectations in comparison with the “howls of clerical pain” 1998
newsgroup posting.

The
recent postings also show a marked change in “ownership” of
responsibility for evangelical success of the whole initiative. The more
recent postings by Fr Michael convey the impression that he has
distanced himself from personal responsibility for the failure of the
initiative.

FrMichangel

ezOP

(9/7/05 2:27)

Reply Re: WHO WE ARE UP AGAINST

I
think that Fr. Peter has said that very well - especially the bit about
it being decades or centuries. After all, when Saint Aristibule yurned
up to get things going, he didn't suddenly have a national Church in his
lifetime - he'd have been lucky to have had one operational
congregation in his lifetime, although I suspect that he may have done a
little better.

In
any case, I'd rather build slowly and surely. If the Holy Spirit wants
fast - then no doubt He'll raise a Saint Paul or two to to run things.

Fr. Michael

www.orthodoxresurgence.co.uk/Petroc

Another post by Fr. Michael and one of his followers relate to a lack of evangelical progress.

One of the most difficult problems is the "how" of evangelism. We have cursorily looked at several ideas on this Forum.

In
the nineteenth century a famous Orthodox evangelist set about bringing
Orthodox Christianity to Japan. Newly Ordained in Russia, Fr. Nicholas
(Kasatkin) got himself appointed as chaplain to the Russian Embassy,
since Christian missionary activity was illegal in Japan at that time.
He spent some years in preparation, learning Japanese culture, history,
language and religion. At the end of his time in Japan, as Bishop,
Nicholas (Kasatkin) had built a Church of some 30,000 members. Here are
some of the procedures that he left:

The Method of Saint Nicholas (Kasatkin) Bishop-missionary of Japan +1912

The
evangelists must be formed into a distinct and properly organised
group. They should teach Christian truth to other people while still
continuing with their own Christian education. In the course of their
evbangelistic activities, they should hold two kinds of meetings:

1.
Advanced Enquirer’s Meetings. In which the evangelists, together with
Enquirers who have already been taught the essential Christian doctrines
and are continuing their studies, shall meet to read and discuss the
New Testament (and the explanations of the Fathers).

These
meetings should be held twice weekly, each evangelist taking a turn at
conducting the meeting. All members shall be expected to attend: If
anyone is unavoidably prevented from attending, he should go over the
content of the missed meeting with someone who was there so as not to
impede the progress of the others.

2.
Early Enquirer’s Meetings. In which those men, women and children, who
are commencing their catechumenate instruction are taught by the
evangelists about the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments
etc.

These meeting should be held twice weekly.

In
addition to these two kinds of meetings, the evangelists should go
about the city every day trying to find new enquirers. If among those
interested there are people who are unable to attend the above meetings,
the evangelists should go to their homes to teach them there about the
Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments. This is to be
regarded as of the utmost importance and should be done even if, because
of time limitations, the evangelist finds it necessary to be absent the
meeting (1) for reading and discussing the New Testament. When people
have been thoroughly instructed in the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the
Ten Commandments, and are established in the faith, they shall be
presented to the Priest for Baptism."

It
was expected that instruction in the Faith should continue on an
organised basis beyond Baptism, until all members of a mission were
fully instructed as Christian laity capable themselves of accurately
imparting the basics to others.

Saint
Nicholas taught a respect for the indigenous culture, language and
spirituality, he desired Orthodoxy to be the truly indigenous Church,
not a pseudo-Russian transplant, with the converts expected to become
“Russian”: Adopting the local culture was necessary in order that
Orthodox Christianity would become truly indigenised and accepted.

______________

Fr.
Nicholas had his first break when he met and converted an hostile
Shinto Priest, then used him to begin to build his team of Evangelists.
The Evangelists were his vanguard, they went ouit and approached people
while he oversaw the training. There is no doubt that Fr. Nicholas was a
proactive evangelist. He certainly didn't sit around waiting for people
to come to him.

The question for us is: What can we learn from Saint Nicholas. and how do we apply this in our own town?

Fr. Michael

www.orthodoxresurgence.co.uk/Petroc

onkos1

Administrator

(18/9/05 6:14)

Reply Re: PRACTICAL LOCAL EVANGELISM

Quote:

evangelists should go about the city every day trying to find new enquirers

I
do not want to be negative, but this is going to be the most difficult
part, surely. It was probably easier to approach someone in downtown
Tokyo an hundred plus years ago, and get an expression of interest, than
in the modern west.

I
suppose the young might be able to do this amongst the clearly
disaffected, who might be desperate enough to come along just for the
coffee and snacks. How does one convince a cynical and lapsed Anglican
or Roman Catholic to join. How does one spot them; most people are
suspicous of discussing religion in the workplace. If one goes to their
door or approaches them in the street, the immediate thought (and mental
warning light) says "Flee, Jehovah's Witnesses" or "I gave at the
office".

The
following post suggests that Orthodoxy would succeed evangelically if
only the right marketing tool could be found, or the right marketing
button pressed.

Author Comment

onkos1

Member

(6/7/05 2:55)

Reply WHO WE ARE UP AGAINST

Eastern
philosophies/religions such as Buddhism, which appeals to the former
hippy brigade, and does not really involve worshipping anything, or more
correctly worships anything that's handy.

Islam,
which attracts the bewildered young who actually want a set of rules
and discipline to guide them. This implies that Orthodoxy might appeal
even more if they were exposed to it.

The
happy/clappy evangelicals and "tolerance", perhaps the greatest trap
set by the devil in modern times. I suspect many people wander into one
of these "churches because they see nowhere else to go. They percieve
the Anglican and Catholic churces as having lost the plot.

The field for seeding Orthodoxy is fertile; the problem we have is delivering the seed and actually sowing it.

We need to learn how to market our Faith. The problem is few of us are any good at it.

Edited by: onkos1 at: 7/7/05 6:44

Over an extended
period of time SPM appears to have downgraded its original objectives to
accord with its actual achievements. The content of the following blog
projects aspirations and achievements which are quite different from and
very modest compared to those displayed in earlier SPM material.Compare
this statement on an early SPM post “…This Monastery has a task from
our Archbishop to actively go and bring people into Orthodoxy” with the
statement

"The
purpose of the Paruchia is to make Orthodoxy accessible to people whose
western culture makes access via the Byzantine worship and ethnic
communities of most Orthodox communities, difficult.By and
large the elements of the paruchia do not advertise themselves, but
spread by word of mouth. The purpose being to enable those already
seeking, rather than proselytising."

we're the ones who need to just do it, rather than rely on the work of others

Alright,
you said it, I will issue the challenge: I would like to see seven new
missions started within the next eighteen months: Two in England - one
West Country, one Midlands, two in the US midwest/west, one each in
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide/Perth. I would see these as small missions,
structured to do exactly what Ari was talking about:

Quote:

praying,
worshipping, being available and able to instruct in the faith ... and
encouraging the vocations for those who will do what it takes

Intended to be limited to about 80 - 100 members after which they form a daughter mission.They
can start out as the aforementioned "study societies" while waiting to
be received. I'm not too worried about waiting for trained missioners
(or even Priests) at first (although they would be better).

The
Monastery came under the omphorion of His Eminence, Archbishop Hilarion
of Sydney in August 1997 and has remained as an official monastery of
the ROCOR Diocese ever since.

The purpose of the Paruchia is to
make Orthodoxy accessible to people whose western culture makes access
via the Byzantine worship and ethnic communities of most Orthodox
communities, difficult.

By and large the elements of the paruchia
do not advertise themselves, but spread by word of mouth. The purpose
being to enable those already seeking, rather than proselytising. Over
the years, the Saint Petroc method has facilitated the conversion of a
number of Protestant clergy, including one bishop, as well as
individuals and small groups. Not all of these come under the Monastery,
but are often directed eventually to a local ruling bishop.

The
Monastery also provides retreat directors for those member groups of the
paruchia wishing to introduce new members to Orthodoxy. It keeps in
close contact with the paruchia and provides ongoing catechetical and
liturgical material for members.

The Monastery is engaged in the ongoing task of producing liturgical resources for western rite Orthodox parishes.

Saint Petroc House and Holyrood House do not have visitor stay facilities, since this is difficult for such eremitic houses.

------------------

In
terms of personal achievement I believe that Fr Michael can claim some
success. In 1997, through ROCOR, he and his associate finally achieved a
clear and unquestioned ordination with formal and robust theological
legitimacy. Fr Michael, as far as I know, has never provided explicit
information on the legal basis and details of his earlier (i.e. prior to
ROCOR) transition to clergy in the early 1990’s. It was only in 1997,
that his name first appeared on the list for TASMANIA - Authorised
Celebrants - Ministers Of Religion For Recognised Denominations.

Another
personal success resulting from his ROCOR endorsement was in ultimately
gaining visiting rights to UTAS as an unpaid “chaplain. In practical
terms this meant access to a fully maintained office and access to a
chapel, as well as the “cachet” associated with a University
affiliation.

Some Questions for SPM

In
some cases I had difficulty when trying to validate details published by
SPM. In other cases I found difficulty in reconciling inconsistencies
between similar material published at different times or in different
places. Examples include

Father Michael’s origins.
His earlier statements inferred that his origins were “English”. In
early published material there are references to him “coming to Tasmania
from England”. Other statements refer to spending time in Australia and
the USA. In one post he states that he was born in Perthshire [a county
in Scotland]. Also there are references to “arranging a move back to
England”. Of course he is Australian, his father and mother were
Australian, he was born in Australia and has spent most of his life in
Australia which he finally declares in December2006.

It seems that so far, I may be the only person to have made a generalposition statement on this List.May I suggest that, since it is a private, by-invitation-only List, thatwe might all shyly introduce ourselves and perhaps make some sort of ageneral statement of where we are coming from for the ensuingdiscussions? It might, after all, save a good deal of time if we don'thave to guess about it, and cover ground that is already common. So,having already posted a general position, here, for those who don'talready know me, is a short introduction:I was born in Perthshire, brought up near Guildford and have spent muchtime since, in the West Country (where part of our family has its"other" Celtic roots). I spent my early childhood in the Church of England, in amixed Anglo-Saxon-Celtic community in a "village Sarum" Parish with aCeltic Priest. I originally studied Economics and history, thenspecialised in Logic, only later coming to Theology. I spent time inAustralia and the USA, was on the Board of Governors of an AnglicanTheological Seminary, started and ran several Parishes. At the moment,I seem to be the de facto "organiser" of Western Rite Orthodoxy in thisdiocese (and also our Chaplain to the local University).We became Orthodox relatively recently. We were received and formallyblessed (as a Monastery, Parishes and people) to the Western Rite, withthe understanding that we were attempting to recapture the way of theChurch of the British Isles of the first millennium. Arising from mychildhood village Parish and my subsequent experience, training andstudies, I have the (probably eccentric) theory that in a difficult-to- define sort of way, there was a continuous (underground) stream (thinat times) of consistent very basic doctrine/ spirituality/worship-practice, which survived within the Church in Britain from the firstmillennium down through the centuries since. I don't know that it cansurvive the onslaught of population change, mass media and liberaltheology of our present day - except in attempts such as ours in thisMonastery - and other places. I have the strong feeling that I am simply"continuing" rather than "reviving". The theology in its fulness, ofOrthodoxy today seems near-identical with that of the first millenniumBritish Church. The oneness of creation, the holiness of creation, themystical indivisibility of life, is what I read in the (Orthodox)Elders. There were old Priests of my childhood and teenage years, whowould understand precisely what I am talking about when I speak of thisstream of continuity in Britain.

Chaplaincy at University of Tasmania.
All of the published material emanating from SPM states that his UTAS
chaplaincy began in 1998. The University gives the date as June 2001

“..Michael
Wood is not, and has never been, "accredited" as a "UTAS Chaplain"
though he (as do some of the others) calls himself a Chaplain - which is
fine

From June 2001 onwards, following the change in policy, he
was invited to assist in the development of (and subsequently to use)
the Faith Centre as a visiting representative of the Russian Orthordox
Church and to that extent was authorised from this date…”(follow up Email from UTAS clarifying dates) ie June 2001

Archdeaconry of Lambeth.
There is some difficulty with the date on which he resigned his English
archdeaconry. In December 2006 he gives the date of his resignation as
taking place in 1995 yet other material indicates that he was using the
“Venerable” title in 1997.

“.
In 1995, after a meeting in Portsmouth and correspondence regarding
reception into Orthodoxy using the Western Rite, and having resigned his
English archdeaconry, he and those associated with Saint Petroc
Monastery, were temporarily placed under the direct obedience to the
Patriarchate in Damascus. In April 1997, Archbishop Hilarion of the
Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sydney visited Saint Petroc Monastery and
met Fr. Michael, Fr. Barry and Peter Ball. They discussed the
possibility of transferring their reception into Orthodoxy to ROCOR.”

An
email from ROCOR also refers to this period and refers to him
approaching ROCOR in 1997 in his capacity of Archdeacon of Lambeth

“
From 1994 to 1996 Mansbridge-Wood took the title The Venerable Father
Michael, Archdeacon of London and Administrator of the Diocese of
Lambeth, within the Continuing Anglican Confession. It was in this
capacity that on 11 April 1997, Fr Michael approached the Russian
Orthodox Church for reception…”

(email from ROCOR)

In 1998 the Parliament of Tasmania published the

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE ,REPORT ON THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION ON VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA

REPORT NO. 6Report of the Community Development Committee

House of Assembly

See http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/ctee/old_ctees/euth.htm

In early 1997 public submissions were sought. Amongst those received was one from

60. The Venerable Father Michael,

St. Petroc Monastery,

St. Petroc House, McRobies Road, South Hobart 7004

Ordination Recommendation. In 1999 he wrote

“I thank God for men
such as Canon Halley, Canon Maurice Bromilow, Fr. James Stannage, Dr.
Robert Moline (St. Paul's, Knightsbridge), Dr. EricMascall (Oxford), Dr. Barry Marshall (Oxford) (the latter three ofwhom urged me to Ordination) and Bishop David Silk (who urged meto Orthodoxy). With the exception of Bishop David Silk, all ofthose men are long since dead, but not only did they try to regainand point to the Old Faith, they held on to and handed on thecustoms and knowledge of the Old Liturgy.

Both Marshall and
Mascall were highly regarded theologians. Dr Barry Marshall, who died in
Oxford in 1970, was Chaplain of Trinity College in Melbourne between
1961 and 1969. Eric Mascall died in 1993. It is unclear and very unlikely that these two
people would urge Michael Wood towards ordination in the context of his
background.

Bishop
David Silk (formerly the Bishop of Ballarat, and now retired and living
in the U.K.) was asked to comment on this reference and also on the
“Archdeaconry of Lambeth” claim by Fr Michael. His reply is below:

“You
have me flummoxed - I have absolutely no recollection of Mr Wood. But I
should advise you to be cautious. There is no diocese of Lambeth in
either the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church in England.

Yours sincerely

+ David Silk”

Marketing

I
could find no evidence of a marketing strategy, nor anything which could
be recognized as a continuing, systematic goal-oriented set of
activities focused on the achieving the evangelical objectives of SPM.

The
objective of the early internet activity of Fr Michael seems to have
been to establish himself as an authority on details of orthodoxy.
Certainly the steps taken by SPM seem to have been low in terms of
energy and oblique in terms of focus.

Some
of SPM’s early initiatives seem to be bizarre. For instance, in one of
the earlier yahoo group posts Fr Michael invites people to emigrate to
Australia, support themselves and place themselves under his guidance to
perform the basic legwork needed to establish parishes and attract
converts. He repeated this offer more recently in an Ely posting. SPM’s
marketing appears to have been heavily reliant on the internet. The
original SPM website was bland, contained no hard information about the
monastery, and essentially asked for donations. It apparently first
appeared around 1998 and remained unchanged and untouched until recently
when it was removed.

The
newer website is much more elaborate, contains some pictures, and also
contains a complete issue of the St Petroc Magazine (the only one
apparently published on the web).

The Ely forum (http://p097.ezboard.com/ELY-FORUM/belyforum)
now also appears to be the an important vehicle in promoting SMP’s
cause It appears that quite a few people have visited the forum, stayed
for a while, but have eventually moved on.

As I
worked through this forum I was quite surprised at some of the content.
The first thing that struck me was the focus, often in forensic detail,
on the minutiae of clerical clothing (buttons, slits, colours),
haircuts, church architecture etc. I could be wrong but I was left with
the impression that the SPM/Ely approach was very orthoprax – the ritual
and detail being more important than what is going on in one’s head.
For example:

I
like the short Medieval mitre (also called 'Anglican') - it is
recognizable as a mitre still in our day. I think it is basically 13th
c.? 11th c. would have had that 'horned' mitre - something that looks
like the illustrations one sees of Aaron the High Priest (a round mitre
like the third depicted) - I like that form as well, but I'm sure it
would get raised eyebrows, though it might bring to mind the Old
Testament priesthood.

The early form is not that different than
the tiara, and much like the early Eastern mitres. That is, 1 and 2 on
the diagram - the first is a linen pilos (pointed linen cap) with
camelaucum (a golden crown). The first is also called the 'frigium' and
is like the Roman mitre, only joined on the sides (a single horn -
rather like the Coptic priest's mitre.) The second is the mitra
clericalis - having become a domed shape. The earliest tiara is like the
pilos, but conical rather than an arched dome. Before the camelaucum
(gold crown) was worn by the bishop along with the pilos (liberty cap).
So - I'm still on the side of the Medieval mitre, though it became
popular post-Schism, it is instantly recognizable as a mitre in the West
(and, unpretentious.) The earlier forms seem to call for going with
conical chasubles, etc.

Another
impression was that the SPM “flavour” of orthodoxy was a long way from
the warm (happy/clappy?) end of the continuum. In fact it projects as
being quite severe and cold – very much a “sword of the lord” approach.

I was
also surprised at the tone and content. For instance there are posts
which react with ferocity against perceived evangelical competitors.
Elsewhere I found a posts referring to suggesting the need for a
crusade. Fr Michael is one of, and the dominant one, of four
administrators of this (Ely) forum.

ROCOR Support and Future Prospects

In
essence I think that this whole initiative arose from an approach to
ROCOR with a proposal by SPM to deliver to ROCOR a sizeable group of
disaffected Anglicans in return for ROCOR’s recognition and endorsement
of SPM. My guess is that there was an arrangement for SPM, in return for
recognition and endorsement, to bring this disaffected group to ROCOR,
and to progressively add more converts from the “disaffected segment” of
the Anglican community. And of course non of this has apparently
happened. I could find nothing else seems to explain why ROCOR would
receive and endorse SPM and its principals in the context of their
background.

It is
unclear why ROCOR continues to support this initiative which in any
other context would be regarded as having well and truly failed. It is
possible that ROCOR continues to hope that SPM’s fortunes will change
though on the information I have there is nothing to suggest that the
future prospects of SPM are likely to improve, or that success is just
around the corner. It is also possible that ROCOR continues to endorse
SPM because, in financial terms it is costless (I believe ROCOR makes no
payment to Fr Michael), and that while ROCOR continues to provide
endorsement and support SPM it does not have to explicitly acknowledge
or admit to a mistake or to a failed initiative. I just wonder what "due
diligence" ROCOR might have performed before becoming involved in this
initiative? ROCOR seems to have given much and received very little from
this initiative. I wonder too if ROCOR is aware of how ROCOR feels
about the recent redefinition of SPM's objectives?

While I have
much unused research material there is not much more to say. This is a
failed initiative which is in keeping with the past limited achievements
of the main people involved. Essentially a repeating theme seems to be
that of creating expectations which always seem to fail to be delivered.
It will be interesting to see what happens to SPM now that ROCOR has
now been reunited with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Notes: December 2007

SPM
has tried several new initiatives over the past year but, as before,
they seem to have come to nothing. Certainly the Ely forum has all but
died on the vine, and the number of SPM devotees seems to have shrunk
dramatically even from previous microscopic levels. The web presence of
those that remain seems also to have all but disappeared.

One has
to marvel at the perseverance and motivation of SPM in the face of so
little success and achievement over such a long period of time.---------------

Notes: April 2008

There is a "review" of the special SPM service held in Sydney last year by a mystery worhipper. See

http://ship-of-fools.com/mystery/2007/1473.html

There is also a thread discussing the review and SPM generally athttp://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=6;t=004670

Following is a few excerpts from this thread

"Posted by Cusanus (# 692) on 30 November, 2007 03:38 :

As
far as I am aware 'St Petroc's Monastery' is one bloke living in a
suburban bungalow in South Hobart. This mission/church/communion/rite
whatever seems to have a much bigger presence on the web than it does on
the ground.

I think St Petroc's claims its own distinctive
liturgical use - does every priest of Western Rite Orthodoxy have his
own liturgy?

St. Petroc's does have a web address but it appears to be dead. That's why it was omitted from the report (I speak as editor).

If
they knew they couldn't expect much of a turnout, it's odd that they'd
go to the trouble of inviting Archbishop Hilarion to the event. Maybe
they thought he'd be a draw. "

"Posted by Cusanus (# 692) on 05 December, 2007 20:52 :

True
- and I think the Antiochenes have probably been much more successful
at fostering Anglophone parishes - both WR and Byzantine - than most
other Orthodix jurisdictions.

Abp Hilarion is in Sydney and St
Petroc's 'monastery' in Hobart, though. And I wonder if +Hilarion is
ever bothered by the fact that in Hobart he has a WR cleric with little
or no congregation and a Russian parish on the other side of town with
no priest.

Posted by Rowen (# 1194) on 05 December, 2007 21:17 :

Orthodox
Churches per se aren't a ver big presence in Oz. I have ministered in 6
hospitals over the past 12 years, and have met only 2 Orthodox
patients, and no Orthodox priests. I guess there might be a few more
around in each hospital, that I don't see... However, there are lots of
mornings now when I sort out patient lists according to ward and
religion, and I would be surprised to actually see any Orthodox names,
and even then, all the Orthodox are listed together.

(Of course, it might mean the Orthodox in my state never get ill.)

Oddly
enough, the Orthodox family I got most involved with (of these 2) kept
coming to our (Protestant ) services of communion, and participating.
They used to talk about the balance between theological belief and their
grandma whose dieing was causing them unimaginable grief, and the
comfort of the sacraments. I figured that as long as they decided they
knew what they were doing, then that ws up to them. "

Update June 2009

In
August 2008 a letter that Fr Michael Wood had circulated among a
smaller group of devotees became public and caused a great deal of angst
and division within parts of the orthodox community. This letter and
excerpts from one discussion group exemplifying the reaction to this
letter are a below. Since then there has been an abrupt and almost
complete absence of SPM activity on the internet. The last meaningful
post on the Ely forum (http://elyforum.yuku.com/) was in December 2008.The private letter

One
of the unfortunate facts of Orthodox life is the historically
inadvertent but nevertheless uncanonical proliferation of extensions of
all the national Local Churches of Orthodoxy into the western world,
with the resultant duplication of dioceses in a manner which blatantly
violates the order of the Church. This does not help Orthodoxy in its
mission to bring the fulness of Christ to the West.

We,
in Western Rite Orthodoxy have also to worry about duplication problems
which blunt the message of Christ and our mission to our people in the
West. In a sense, it is unfortunate that the Holy Synod of Russia
authorised several Western Rites for use. (ROCOR later authorised a
third (Germanus) and it seems that a Moscow Patriarchate Archbishop has
authorised a fourth rite (Stowe)).

Because
of this, we see the unedifying spectacle of two liturgically warring
groups operating within the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate in the USA
- with those wanting what is essentially Roman Catholic Tridentine
churches and ceremonial, with statues and all the late second millennium
devotional additions such as the rosary, exposition, benediction,
birettas, stations etc., in opposition to those who prefer the (much)
modified sarumish usages which they grew up with in their former days.

Add
to this the intrusion of a highly incorrect book (albeit beautifully
and expensively bound and printed) having its origin in the "Milan
Synod" purporting to be Sarum, but which is in fact merely a collection
of obscure, very localised variations pasted together for their presumed
acceptability to Byzantine liturgical sensibilities.

None
of these things is authorised within the Russian Church. The Russian
authorisations were made upon the submissions of Dr. Overbeck and
Archbishop (Saint) Tikhon, both of which were non-Tridentine based
submissions.

Following
on from that, and the liturgical work of Abbot Augustine, from within
ROCOR, Archbishop Hilarion has authorised the Saint Colman Prayer Book
for our use. It contains three versions of the Divine Liturgy, with one
(Sarum based) ceremonial standard for all three rites. The three
versions of the Divine Liturgy therein are: The Sarum (Usus Cascadae);
the English Liturgy and the Liturgy of Saint Gregory (Usus
Providentiae). The Book contains a simplified Breviary and all the
common occasional Offices needed by a Parish Priest.

I
think that if we all adhere to one or other of these three Liturgies,
making our own ROCOR Book standard and as far as is possible, ordering
our churches and chapels to a very basically compatible standard, we
could avoid the problems that the Antiochians have fallen into. This
means ignoring the pseudo-Sarum of the "Milan Synod" book, the various
Anglican, Roman, Antiochian Missals and others floating about which have
no Russian Orthodox authorisation.

The
Liturgical practices of Christminster, Holyrood, and Saint Petroc are
quite compatible, without dispute amongst us. I think that it is
incumbent upon us belonging to the Russian Church, to set the standard
for Western Rite usage and behaviour within the whole of Orthodoxy. We
can do this by ensuring that we really are well educated in the Faith
and the Liturgy and by observing a strong liturgical discipline and a
degree of ritual and ceremonial unity, stemming from one specific book
which has clear authorisation within ROCOR. We need to avoid at all
costs the ad hoc liturgical sloppiness and late Roman innovations of the
past three hundred years, that we see sometimes amongst the
Antiochians.

The
choice of Liturgy contained in the book that we now have, is up to each
ruling bishop and his parishes, and ought not to be the subject of
dispute between clergy and laity from different parishes. So long as
none of us is using blatantly Tridentine ceremonial, vesture, devotional
additions or decorations, we will escape the indiscipline and
disruption which seems to dog the Antiochians thereby damaging the whole
cause of Western Rite within Orthodoxy and beyond.

Of
course, this is far from being the beginning and end of our mission to
our people, however, internally, it is only by clearly and obviously
keeping a strict adherence to Orthodox teachings in their fulness while
maintaining disciplined liturgical unity, that we will ensure that we
nullify the criticisms of those who oppose the Western Rite within
Orthodoxy and widen our acceptability with bishops who might otherwise
perceive us as potentially disruptive or divisive.

In
the aftermath of the Church of England's General Synod decision to go
right ahead with bishopesses, and of the shambles that Rowan Williams
has managed to make of Lambeth, it is timely to say out loud to Church
of England laity, that there is an alternative to the pseudo-leadership
of the papacy. The Pope is neither the only nor the best way for members
of the Church of England to go!! How many Church of England people
realise that the Western Rite was first authorised for Orthodox use
specifically IN ENGLAND over a hundred and thirty years ago (just after
the Primus of Scotland had visited Russia and discussed unity with
Church authorities there - and reported his conversations to the
Convocation of Canterbury)? How many realise that services extracted
from the Book of Common Prayer were authorised for adaption for Orthodox
use over a hundred years ago?Embryo Western Rite parishes/missions can
be formed immediately in England (or Scotland or Wales) and seek
immediate Orthodox oversight while they prepare themselves for formal
reception. A Western Rite Orthodox Prayer Book already exists - it is
just a matter of them making contact with us.

To clarify - there
was no open letter. The letter by Fr. Michael was a private letter to
the missions, hermitages, and study societies of Saint Petroc
Monastery. I was one of the few original intended recipients - and this
was the letter released after it became apparent that it had been
intercepted, given a wider circulation, and a sinister reading by
those of ill will.

9/27/07

To those who were offended by the letter appended below:

In
the first place the letter was not public and was intended as an
internal document. Unfortunately I blind copied it to one outsider who
innocently decided to forward it to one or two others, thus enabling
anyone of a mind to do so, to to cause as much trouble as they could
- and someone apparently did just that. I should point out that
that outsider has this morning sent me a written apology for having
forwarded it to others.

A number of people not included on the
original address list, having received this essentially private
letter, have become upset and even angry at certain of the terms
used in the letter. Unfortunately, it happens to all of us that when
some part of a document offends us, we tend to fail to appreciate
the overall intent of the document or indeed to take into account
other aspects of it. We often then proceed to misread the remainder
of the document or to read into it things that were never intended by
the writer.

The letter was not intended as an attack on the
Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate. It was intended to guide some
people to avoid criticising those parishes which chose a liturgy
that differed from their own. The core sentence of the letter was:

The
choice of Liturgy contained in the book that we now have, is up to each
ruling bishop and his parishes, and ought not to be the subject of
dispute between clergy and laity from different parishes.

My
citing of the Antiochian examples came from letters and telephone calls
that I have received from Antiochian clergy and laity over the
years, telling of often bitter criticisms aimed at them from within
the AWRV by fellow clergy whose liturgical usage differs. Indeed I
have been criticised by at least one such clergyman for precisely
the fact that I do not follow the practices that he prefers.

My references to the AWRV were entirely of the nature of examples.

I
did not deplore the numerous versions of the Western Rite in authorised
use within Orthodoxy, I merely commented to the effect that life
might have been simpler had there been only one. I had in mind the
Overbeck version.

One of Fr. James's correspondents chose to then
attack me (I had not knowingly attacked him) as being somehow
"Triumphalist" because we "deluded" ourselves that we are
"official". I don't know how he reads that into the letter - it was
merely me writing primarily to those missions, groups and clergy
affiliated or otherwise connected with this monastery.

Over
the years numerous personal attacks from people within the AWRV have
been reported to me - I have always chosen to ignore them. Now, at what
they misperceive as an attack on them, they say things such as:

The
underlying statement in this text-- that "I think that it is
incumbent upon us belonging to the Russian Church, to set the standard
for Western Rite usage and behaviour within the whole of Orthodoxy"
-- which comes from their recent union with the Moscow Patriarchate,
giving them a renewed sense of "officialdom" that requires that
they bash others in much the same way the Patriarchate bashed the
ROCOR in earlier years, is based not upon any interest in "restoring
the Western rituals" within Orthodoxy but in consolidating their
own power.

That writer is correct in identifying the words "I
think that it is incumbent upon us belonging to the Russian Church,
to set the standard for Western Rite usage and behaviour within the
whole of Orthodoxy" as being an underlying text - albeit a
secondary one - but to then assume that it has anything whatsoever
to do with the rapprochement with Moscow or "consolidating their own
power" is both inaccurate and totally unfair. I might point out
that I voiced some reservations about the rapprochement among our
ROCOR clergy, and I think I might fairly ask "what power?" - I/we
have none! I referred to us once as "mice in the Byzantine barn" -
and one of our people once described Saint Petroc's as the "Orthodox
Department of Waifs and Strays" (my favourite as it happens) -
hardly indicative of any delusion of power (and if it existed, it
would indeed be a delusion).

Another of Fr. James's correspondents said:

I
am certainly not against liturgical diversity (and I am certainly NOT
in agreement with Fr Michael's ridiculous and triumphalist position
that St Petroc's usage is the only legitimate one),

Nowhere
in my letter did I suggest that the Saint Colman Book was the only
legitimate Western Rite - what may have sparked this outburst may have
been my words:

I think that if we all adhere to one or other of these three Liturgies, making our own ROCOR Book standard.....

Please
try to remember that this letter was addressed exclusively to people
who are affiliated with this Monastery or in close contact with us. It
had no intended application whatsoever to anyone outside. The "we
all" meant the legitimate addressees only.

I have on numerous
occasions tried to invoke joint approaches with the AWRV - such as
long ago trying to get input for the Saint Colman Prayer Book;
inviting their clergy to participate in the Ely Forum and trying to make
the online Western Rite Newspaper "Orthodox Christian West" a
place where all Western Rite events were evenly presented (all the
initial reports there were of Antiochian matters) however I have
been unable to get Antiochian input.

I should point out that
our relations with Antiochian Western Rite clergy and people in this
country are very close - on a weekly basis - we have each
participated in the others' events - we have had one joint conference
- indeed we cooperate wherever possible.

I wholeheartedly
apologise to those people who have felt themselves or their
Vicariate attacked by my letter, I ask them to bear in mind that it
was intended for just the eleven legitimate addressees (including
Archbishop Hilarion) and no -one else, and that my references to their
Vicariate were intended as examples only, not as attacks.

I
am relying on Fr, James and others to now ensure that this letter of
apology is circulated to all those who have made themselves known to
him as being offended, for not one of them has contacted me
directly.

Fr. MichaelSuperiorSaint Petroc MonasteryCascades

A critique and defence of this letter:

“Noting that the
corrective is over a year old, it should be asked just *why* some are
attacking Fr. Michael with obvious falsehoods? Of course, that isn't
the depth of the matter either - its been ongoing for nearly a decade
that I'm aware of.

To
clarify - there was no open letter. The letter by Fr. Michael was a
private letter to the missions, hermitages, and study societies of
Saint Petroc Monastery.

Yes, we know that
what Fr Michael had intended as an inhouse letter was released on the
Internet. Thereby it willy-nilly became an open letter the content of
which has disturbed Western Rite people. Their disturbance can hardly be
denied given their reaction, nor can it be said that they
misinterpreted the letter. Nor is Fr Michael's understanding of his
relationshop with the Antiochians anywhere near as sanguine as your
own.

Noting
that the corrective is over a year old, it should be asked just
*why* some are attacking Fr. Michael with obvious falsehoods? Of
course, that isn't the depth of the matter either - its been ongoing
for nearly a decade that I'm aware of.

While the
"corrective" may have been issued over a year ago it has to be said
that the author has continued to attack Western Rite groups. For
example, here is one such attack on Antioch as recently as February
this year:

_________________________________Weighing into such a lengthy discussion at such an advanced stage is probably foolish, buthaving watched it progress, I felt moved to join. I realise that the discussion is too wellmannered for "sides" to have been taken ..... so I won't, however I would like to say that Fr.Aidan's understanding of AWRV thinking, with the careful input from Rdr Polycarp,matches my own observations.

We made several attempts to work jointly with AWRV and after initial enthusiasticreactions, sudden unexplained silence. I can only assume that contrary instructions weregiven. Certainly I have some contact with a few clergy - but is is very desultory, andcontact with their influential clergy has usually been curt to the point of rudeness on theirpart.

...

Having pondered the AWRV attitude to us, I am left largely with conjecture (vividimagination?) but one opinion advanced was the fact that this Monastery was given theofficial task of producing a full Western Rite Prayer Book for ROCOR. ( Building on the workalready done by Abbot Augustine, we did precisely that and the result, the Saint ColmanPrayer Book was authorised (after seven years of work) in 2003 by Archbishop Hilarionwho had participated in its compilation. Sufficient copies have been produced to satisfythe needs of those authorised to use it). Such a very Sarumised Prayer Book is in directcontrast to the Antiochian efforts which I feel are rather too Episcopalian-Tridentine forany Orthodox usage, and may therefore be seen as a direct challenge to their presumedWRITE hegemony.

...

Fr. Michael

------------------------------------

Update 30th March 2010

Following
a period of illness in early 2009 involving brain/pituitary gland
surgery, Fr Michael was active again. In late 2009 he was in the U.K. He
spent time in Bournemouth and held a number of Western Rite services
there (in one of the East Cemetery chapels in the Pokesdown area of
Bournemouth). He also held several more services in London, but
apparently these ended abruptly when access to the venue for these
became unavailable. Since then there has been no public information
about his activities. His Ely forum is virtually defunct with just
several new postings-mainly enquirers from Poland-which generated
minimal responses. In the meantime it is not clear whether he has
abandoned his activities in Hobart.

There was mention of a novice
in Australia and a mission in Darlinghurst, Sydney under Fr Michael's
care. Again it is not clear how these are being managed, if at all,
while Fr Michael is in the UK. Also he is still listed as a visiting
chaplain on the UTAS faith centre page even though he has apparently
been living in the UK for an extended period of time. [apparently the
novice has since left, and nothing more has been heard about the
Darlinghurst mission].

Over the past 12 months Archbishop (now
First Hierarch) Hilarion has personally involved himself in supporting
initiatives to promote Western Rite, but, in spite of this high level
support, Fr Michael's efforts have never really achieved any form of
traction , ignition or sustained growth. Since the previous update,
nearly nine months ago, there has been no further visible evangelical
progress.

Father Michael is
now approaching 70 years of age, and facing uncertain health. In the
past 13 years he has made virtually no tangible progress and it is clear
that his best efforts and energy are in the past. It is not clear so
far whether he will continue with his efforts to promote Western Rite,
given his lack of achievements after having dissipated the best of his
personal resources.

Update November 2010

Recently this blog
was mentioned on an orthodox discussion website as providing factual
information about St Petroc Monastery and its activities

SPM protagonist responded by claiming that many lies had been published about SPM, and that this website is false.

When invited to
specify such material the people involved, particularly “Aristibule”
declined to do so and instead focused on denigrating the author of the
blog. Numerous and very serious pejorative references were made about
the motivation, credibility, actions, character and mental state of the
author.

“Why?
[comment removed] Fr. Michael still hasn't read the website - but he is
aware what is on it (and many of us are aware why the website is
false.) The action being taken is appropriate to the 'merits' of the
website - it has no merits, and needs no challenge. What good does it do
engaging them? More time wasted. What good comes of it? Too much to do
already. That's what the S.'s/CSJ want - time wasted, effort wasted,
destruction of Fr. Michael and Western Orthodoxy. It isn't
Feminist/Unitarian enough for them. It would make as much sense as
trying to argue with those who believe the moon is made of cheese, that
the earth is flat, or that the world is run by lizard-people.

Of course, here I am wasting my time with tosh.”

The moderator
subsequently removed the most of these pejorative comments. As the
discussion continued, more pejorative statements about the author were
made. The moderator of the forum locked the thread, then removed it and
replaced it with the following statement.

I
have deleted the entire thread on the Western Rite Monastery that was
thought to be in the works for the USA. Initially, I intended to split
out the acceptable posts, but the result was a disjointed and
unintelligible thread. I therefore deleted it completely.

I
was dismayed that this thread continued on so long, with so much
back-and-forth, full of speculation, about a person who does not even
post here. It would have been much more appropriate to focus on the
question of WR ROCOR missionary work and left the issue of one of its
priests aside completely.

Furthermore,
the bringing in to the discussion of a critical blog of uncertain
provenence, and the subsequent discussion of that blog's operators (even
though never named here) was inappropriate and unnecessary.

I
am disappointed by all who chose to take part in this thread in this
way. Please do not repeat this mistake, or you will be given formal
sanctions.

Part of the reason
for starting this blog was a serious concern about how SPM had been
representing itself since its inception in the mid 1990s. For instance,
in the early years, Fr Michael projected himself as being English when
in fact he was an Australian. Also there is much very heavy fog about
most aspects of SPM qualifications, theological training and experience,
and its claims about evangelical initiatives, progress and
achievements.

Over
the years there
have been many critics of SPM which have been brutally attacked by a
small handful of SPM protagonists. Perceived spiritual competitors of
SPM have been treated in the same way. In this regard one of these,
“Aristible”, has always enthusiastically played an active “attack dog”
role.

With the objective
of restoring my personal and professional credibility I offered SPM the
choice of either retracting these comments, or seeing SPM’s credibility
tested by providing the link to primary source material regarding Fr
Michael’s air force service record. SPM chose the former option, and
“Aristibule” continued to escalate these pejorative comments to the
stage where the whole thread was removed by the moderator. Consequently I have
decided to publicize the link to Fr Michael’s full service record which
was published in 2004 and has been publicly available for the past 6
years. The publisher is the Australian Federal Government (National
Archives of Australia). This record provides much of the source material
in this blog, and should help people make their own independent
assessment about this blog’s accuracy and veracity.

The full service
record of Fr Michael covers many pages and provides a full picture of
his capacity and performance in the RAAF.

There are many pages in this record, but the following are significant:

p3 Certificate of discharge

p15 AWOL

p73 recommendation for discharge - with the comment "little use to the service"

p77 discharge

p83 discharge

p84 discharge

p85 discharge

p86 discharge

p87 discharge

p90 discharge request

p112 performance report

p114 "

p120 "

p122 attitude

p130 performance

p132 performance

p135 performance

p136 performance

p132 recommendation for discharge

p155 chaplain's comments

to view the records go to the National Archives of Australia website www.naa.gov.au/

select record search

select search now as guest

keywords "michael mansbridge wood" then search

click on "view digital copy" in the green bar near the top of the page

Update April 2011

SPM
continues to foment controversy and division. Michael Wood has began
using the title “Abbot” the legitimacy of which is strongly disputed by
his peers. SPM has inducted a female novice who lives in Edinburgh,
Scotland even though Fr Michael has apparently returned to Tasmania.
There are claims that Fr Michael has adopted a secret separate persona
“Owain Harrison” which he uses to post discussion group messages write
in support of himself.

Some months ago, SPM launched a new website

http://orthodoxwesternrite.wordpress.com/

which
amongst other things refers to numerous previously unmentioned
missionary achievements including some in continental Europe and others
in Asia. Given the fundamental mission of restoring
“Anglo-Celtic-Saxon” Orthodoxy it is curious to see Singapore and the
Philippines being claimed as successes.

In
March, the homepage displayed the following message, and all of the
other pages disappeared. Yet some weeks later the website was restored
and this message disappeared.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA – AUSTRALIA – NEW ZEALAND

We
had hoped to be able to use this website to make new missions and study
societies more widely known, particularly to enable the faithful to pray
for them, but experience in two regions has taught us that there are
those opposed to the restoration of Western Rite Orthodoxy who will
stoop very low indeed to pull our new little plants up by their roots.
Therefore to protect converts and those whose path to Orthodoxy is not
conventionally easy we have decided that new endeavours will now only be
made known to the Metropolitan until they are strong enough to
withstand their enemies.

We
are sorry beyond words that we have to act like this. It is
heartbreaking to have to put such an announcement on a website dedicated
to evangelism but as things stand we have no choice.

Please remember us in your prayers.

------------------------

In May 2011 Michael Wood was suspended from all priestly and liturgical duties by First Hierarch Hilarion.

The suspension notice is shown below.

Update 15th June 2011

The
main SPM
website,orthodoxwesternrite.wordpress.com/st-petroc-monastery/ apart
from a subtle change in wording saying Saint Petroc Monastery was
[rather than is] composed of...provides
no indication of changes in current arrangements or the future of its
various initiatives following the issue of the notice of suspension of
Michael Wood.

The following website has not been changed since the suspension.

http://stpetrocmonastery.blogspot.com/The
Monastery is headed by its Abbot, Fr Michael, and consists of several
houses which are geographically spread - according to the work given to
the Monastery by His Eminence, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox
Church in the West.

Apart from being the Superior of the
Monastery - which is opening new outreach initiatives - Fr. Michael
oversees eight monastery missions and missionary projects in the UK, the
Philippines and Australia

His appointment by the Metropolitan as
being in charge of English missions is only some twelve months old and
is a very welcome challenge.

Also it is not clear how the
suspension will affect the 2 novices that SPM claims are under guidance,
the spiritual welfare of its devotees, or the University of Tasmania
"chaplaincy" because at present he is prohibited from performing any
priestly or liturgical duties.---------------------

Update 1st July 2011

There
is still no mention on the "All the News" page of the flagship SPM
(Wordpress) website about the suspension of Michael Wood. The last entry
predates the suspension date by a few days. Also all of the SPM
devotees who are normally vociferous on the web have been silent.
Curiously too, there has been an abrupt halt to any discussion on the
web about the subject of suspension by his colleagues.

Is this
the end of SPM's evangelism initiative? There are rumours
(unsubstantiated) that the suspension has been lifted but it is
difficult to see a viable future for SPM even if this is the case. At
worst if the suspension is not lifted then there is no way forward for
SPM as a ROCOR establishment.

At best, even if it is true that
the suspension has been lifted -either wholly or in part- then SPM's
status within ROCOR would appear to be badlyand irreparably damaged.
Particularly it is difficult to envisage a continuing role for Michael
Wood as a close advisor of First Hierarch Hilarion.

FURTHER UPDATE

There
is an authorative but unofficial post on the Orthodox Christianity
(30th June, 2011) stating that Michael Wood's suspension has been
lifted, but with conditions which will confine his activities solely to
Tasmania. See

www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,36636.0.html
(reply 36)Fr. Michael's suspension has been lifted, but he has also
been relieved of all duties except for caring for St. Petroc's in
Tasmania.

If so then it appears that SPM's "global" evangelical role and advisory position to First Hierarch Hilarion is at an end.

Update 2nd July, 2011

The suspension has indeed been lifted, but Fr. Michael is no longer authorizedto serve beyond his own parish and the local university's Orthodoxfellowship: no more UK or other countries.

That was Metropolitan Hilarion's decision.

In Christ+Bishop Jerome

--------------------------

Update 7th July, 2011

The
suspension of Michael Wood has been lifted but with conditions that
limit SPM’s future activities to Tasmania. In many ways these
restrictions put SPM back to where it was 14 years ago. It was then that
it first became part of ROCOR and was given the task of attracting
large numbers of disaffected Anglicans to ROCOR/SPM. The tenor of the
words in the suspension and the restrictive conditions under which it
was lifted convey the impression that the ROCOR hierarchy views SPM with
disfavour and places little importance on SPM’s future role in ROCOR.
In other words ROCOR appears to have in essence served Fr Michael
Mansbridge Wood with a retirement notice.

In 2007 this blog
concluded that the SPM evangelical mission had failed and that the
monastery had become dormant. SPM/Western Rite initiative was considered
a failure because it had not produced any visible results in either
Tasmania, or the rest of Australia after 10 years of activity.

Subsequently
SPM had a new lease of life when the ROCOR hierarchy started to work
closely with SPM presumably to try to resuscitate what appeared to be a
failed project. During the ensuing 4 years SPM started initiatives in
the UK and continued its activity on the web. Archbishop Hilarion
personally participated with Fr Michael Wood in some services, and the
Archbishop took personal control over the development of ROCOR’s Western
Rite initiative. SPM created a collection of websites which publicised
its various activities. These websites announced numerous successes
including the training of a novice and a variety missions At that time
SPM started to engage actively and aggressively – ferociously in many
cases- with Orthodox clergy around the world mainly through exchanges on
various forums and websites. The thrust of these exchanges was to
promote the superiority of SPM’s version of WR Orthodoxy and at the same
time to denigrate any competing versions. During this process SPM
became widely regarded as divisive, and appeared to make few friends
amongst the Orthodox fraternity. Perversely SPM restricted the
distribution of its own versions of SPM’s Sarum Rite to its own few
devotees, refusing to make copies available to anyone it regarded as
likely to be critical of its contents. I seem to recollect one post
where people were required to agree with the contents before they were
issued with a copy,

More recently Fr Michael caused more
discussion and generated much scepticism by conferring on himself the
title of “Abbot” by using heroic logic to justify this.

In
mid/late 2010 SPM launched its flagship website (Wordpress). This
website was promoted as being a Western Rite portal and placed a very
positive complexion on SPM as a substantial, rapidly growing and
successful entity. The site appeared to project SPM as being a
substantial entity witha global influence and a presence in the UK,
Europe and the Philippines. Yet anecdotal information currently puts the
number of SPM WR devotees, after 14 years of global canvassing, at
around 8 in the UK, less than a handful in Australia and a very small
number elsewhere. SPM never discloses statistics on its activities no
alternative reliable factual information on numbers is available.

What
is clear is that ROCOR has effectively turned off life support to SPM’s
missionary activities and removed its principal from an influential
role as advisor to the primate of ROCOR. These actions support a view
that SPM has failed to impress ROCOR with its evangelical activities and
achievements.

Some years ago this blog canvassed the question of
why SPM has had such limited success in attracting people to its
variant of WR Orthodoxy. It is suggested again that the main reason was
the naive and incorrect premise that there were vast numbers of
disaffected Anglicans who were prepared to change churches.

Other factors included:

· the flavour of the SPM variant of WR which appears to be cold,
legalistic, orthoprax, and forbidding and therefore somewhat limiting in
attractiveness to potential converts

· the aggressive,
pugilistic tactics which SPM and its adherents used to promote their
cause and to respond to questions and criticism about its cause and
activities, leading to the alienation SPM from other parts of ROCOR.
This pattern of behavioui unusual for an entity that purports to promote
the highest standards of spiritual development,

· the
general calibre of the principals, the absence of any former significant
achievements and formal tertiary qualifications. Air Force records
document a capacity to initially impress but subsequently disappoint
through lack of performance and this pattern appears to have repeated.

· the way that SPM represented itself by exaggerated claims of success,
the use of clever wording to improve its c.v. and the citing of
achievements that, when checked against source, were not supported.
(These are raised as questions earlier in the blog).

As an
example of clever wording, in a Caslit forum message (see caslit message
“SHYLY INTRODUCE OURSELVES” earlier in the blog) he introduces himself
in the following way; my comments in square brackets I have not
corrected the spelling errors in the original emails. Nowhere in the
message does he mention Australia.

"...I was born in Perthshire
[Perth, Western Australia], brought up near Guildford [in Bassendean, a
suburb of Perth which is near another suburb called Guilford] and have
spent much time since, in the West Country [Western Australia]..."

Elsewhere in the same post (written in 1998) he writes:

“...I seem to be the de facto "organiser" of Western Rite Orthodoxy in thisdiocese (and also our Chaplain to the local University)....”

Excerpts
from The University of Tasmania’s (UTAS’s) response to my request for
confirmation about dates is below – my underlining (see earlier in the
blog for fuller versions

UTAS Chaplaincy“…Michael Wood made a
number of representations to the university from 1997 onwards requesting
to be appointed as a Univesity chaplain. This request was not acceded
to and he has not been "accredited" by the University as a chaplain.

From
June 2001 onwards, following the change in policy, he was invited to
assist in the development of (and subsequently to use) the Faith Centre
as a visiting representative of the Russian Orthordox Church and to that
extent was authorised from this date…”

Ultimately these types of discrepancies and contradictions would caution me, and I guess others, to proceed with care.

In
the “HOWLS OF CLERCAL PAIN” posting (see earlier in blog) that Fr
Michael wrote in 1998, he describes SPM’s activities in a way that
presents more as foregone conclusion rather than as a plan which never
eventuated. In many ways the air force chaplain, when commenting on
Michael Wood's theological aspirations (see air force file), seemed very
perceptive because the following seems to accurately summarise the SPM
story

"The academic programme outlines is rather grand and his
hopes of financing it are naive-and A.C. Wood has more than once shown
the tendency to assume the completion of what is but an idea in his
mind"

I do not think the grand vision of a mass exodus of
disaffected Anglicans to Orthodoxy was ever realistic. However if the
individuals involved with this initiative were different, different
methods were used, and the complexion presented was different then
perhaps the overall may have been much more successful than it was.

So
is the SPM story over? That very much depends on what its principals,
particularly Fr Michael, plan to do. If he chooses to remain under the
direction of ROCOR then I believe it is the end of this story. If he
decides to continue with his activities outside Tasmania then he will
have to leave ROCOR, lose his clerical credentials and legitimacy, and
revert to being a layman again. Only time will tell.

------------------------

Update 8th July 2011

I hadn't expected to add to this for some time but then came across 2 posts which I decided to include:

The
first (from the closed yahoo groups occidentalis forum) provides
further clarity by Bishop Jerome to the the issue of the various SPM
overeas affiliates.

I have referred several times to the various
(numerous) websites and other missions and initiates but have never
bothered to put a complete listing together. Someone else has, and I
decided to include it even if just for posterity.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Occidentalis/message/20073

THE CLARIFICATION

Re: [Occidentalis] St Petroc Monastery affiliates

> But what about the other entities such as those in the

Philippines,

> Singapore and several in the United States eg the

St Brendans Orthodox

> Study Society, Florida and the evolving one

in New Mexico? Who will take

> over their guidance?

The Metropolitan has informed Fr. Michael repeatedly, that he has never

[Five
members on the Australian continent after 13 years of missionary
activity is quite a small number. Not that we want to judge a spiritual
work by numbers.

Do you know the Petrochian figures for its WR mission in the UK?

It would seem to be a mission urgently in need of the prayers of all those who want to support the Western Rite.

I
don't know the Petrochian mission numbers for the UK. I believe that if
one sees the many Petrochian paruchia websites that one can easily see
the scope of their many activities.

Saint Petroc Monastery: http://stpetrocmonastery.blogspot.com/

Saint Eanswythe Mission: http://kentorthodox.blogspot.com/

Saint Nectan Mission: http://saintnectan.blogspot.com/

Saint Dyfan Mission: http://hobartorthodox.blogspot.com/

Saint Brendan Mission: http://saintbrendanoss.blogspot.com/

Newspaper: http://orthodoxchristianwest.blogspot.com/

Missions: http://saintpetrocmissionarysociety.blogspot.com/

History Site: http://westorthodoxhistory.blogspot.com/

English Orthodox: http://englishorthodox.blogspot.com/

Saint Stephen Mission: http://launcestonorthodox.blogspot.com/

Monastery Site - Liturgy: http://orthodoxresurgence.com/petroc/

Discussion Forum: http://elyforum.yuku.com/

That
there is no western rite in the major cities of Sydney (4 million) and
Melbourne (3 million) may be attributable to many things. Certainly the
established ROCOR parishes in those cities - about 12-14 parishes have
many western clergy serving and many Byzantine rite western laity, as
well as both English language and Greek/English monasteries.

The St. Petroc site states at: Saint Petroc Monastery: http://stpetrocmonastery.blogspot.com/

Saint
Petroc Monastery, acting in accordance with episcopal direction, has a
paruchia of Monastery Missions and other formal groups:

The
Monastery came under the omphorion of His Eminence, Archbishop Hilarion
in August 1997 and has remained as an official monastery of the ROCOR
Diocese ever since.

The purpose of the Paruchia is to make
Orthodoxy accessible to people whose western culture makes entry via the
Byzantine worship and ethnic communities of most Orthodox parishes,
difficult.

By and large the elements of the paruchia do not
advertise themselves, but spread by word of mouth. The purpose being to
enable those already seeking, rather than proselytising. Over the years,
the Saint Petroc method has facilitated the conversion of a number of
Protestant clergy, as well as individuals and small groups. Not all of
these come under the Monastery, but are often directed eventually to a
local ruling bishop.

The Monastery also provides retreat
directors for those member groups of the paruchia wishing to introduce
new members to Orthodoxy. It keeps in close contact with the paruchia
and provides ongoing catechetical and liturgical material for members.

The Monastery is engaged in the task of producing liturgical resources for western rite Orthodox parishes.

Saint Petroc House and Holyrood House do not have visitor stay facilities, since this is difficult for such eremitic houses.

The
St Petroc blog sites also has a
saintpetrocmissionarysociety.blogspot.com with missions in the
Philippines (2) and the United States of America (1 or 2?) so clearly
the Petrochian paruchia is achieving in the mission fields if it has 300
catechumen in the Philippines. I hope and pray that a missionary
monk-priest or priest can go there and begin the baptisms, bringing
these souls to Jesus Christ.

Saint Petroc Monastery Missionary
Society is a Society set up to promote the missions run by Saint Petroc
Monastery, to facilitate their funding and to assist the missionaries in
the field.

Saint Petroc Monastery currently runs missions in the
Philippines, England, Australia and the USA. Mostly these are "green
fields" missions starting from scratch. Saint Petroc Monastery does not
have access to official Church funds, large private funds or bequests,
we rely entirely on the giving of devout Orthodox Christian Believers.

The Monastery is directly under the control of His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, the Primate of ROCOR.

Missionary
work at all levels - the individual - and the mass foreign. We are
looking at participating in an Orthodox school in London, we are opening
missions in England. We have opened two missions in the Philippines
(300 people) - so the missionary work just never stops. The money
however is another matter - there's none of it! So we have to find what
we can wherever we can. Pray for money for the missions in England and
the Philippines!

So
Father this equals 8 missions under the Petrochian Paruchia spreading
Western-rite Orthodoxy in 4 countries - Australia, Philippines, United
States and the United Kingdom. I am not aware of the Launceston mission
being closed as Priest Barry Jeffrey is still resident there although
currently serving in Hobart fortnightly in the absence of St. Petroc
Monastery Hieromonk Michael (Mansbridge-Wood), the Australian superior
of the monastery-missionary WR organisation who is currently visiting
the United Kingdom and has reported great success in evangelism.

The
Philippine missions site has the capacity for people to donate funds
for their missionary work - a worthy outreach to see these souls
baptised. Is there the prospect of a permanent priest in the
Philippines? If they have 300 souls in 2 centres it would be possibly
the largest western-rite parishes in the world.

« Last Edit: December 03, 2010, 08:17:21 AM by SubdeaconDavid »

Update 19th July 2011

I
have now seen a email from Kenneth Graydon confirming that he did
perform an ordination on Michael Wood and stating that this ordination
was presumably extinguished during his (Michael Wood's) later
ordination(s).

Kenneth Graydon appears to have left the Apostolic Church many years ago.

A
google search "Kenneth Graydon apostolic" and "Kenneth Graydon organ
regeneration" yields quite a number of results showing he is now very
active in the "Wellness" industry.

Update 23rd October, 2011

There has been no visible activity by SPM since Fr Michael's suspension and its subsequent conditional lifting.

However
none of the numerous SPM websites appear to have been updated to
reflect the change in Fr Michael's personal status within ROCOR, and the
prohibition of SPM's activities beyond Tasmania. In fact most of these
sites still refer to his status as Assistant to Metropolitan Hilarion
with oversight of Western Rite Missions in Britain.

His Ely forum still receives around 30 visits per day even though there have been no new posts since about April this year.-----------------------------------------------------------

Update 3rd February 2012

Neither
Fr Michael nor his devotees had been active on any public discussion
groups since around May last year, but recently both Fr Michael and
"Aristibule" reappeared briefly on the yahoo groups Occidentalis forum.
They addressed concerns about their involvement with the Philippines
mission and their failure to update their numerous websites.

Fr Michael has also been active on Facebook- see https://www.facebook.com/frmichael.hieromonk

FrMichael Hieromonk-since the latter half of 2011 and is now posting frequent updates and details of his journey in the U.K.

His Facebook page still shows him as

"Assistant to Metropolitan Hilarion for the United Kingdom."

although he was removed from this role when he was suspended in May 2011.

On
the "wordpress" website the "all the news page" has been selectively
updated, still showing a report that he was made Assistant to
Metropolitan Hilarion but failing to mention his subsequent suspension,
removal from that position, and the restriction of his activities to
Tasmania.

The St Petroc Monastery page also shows some changes.
Fr Michael now claims to have had an "Anglican Ordination" (suggesting
perhaps that it was into the mainstrean Anglican Church) rather than the
"Anglican Rite Jurisdiction of the Americas church". That was an
Anglican traditionalist church originating in 1981 from within the
Anglican Catholic Church in the United States and with the assistance of
the Philippine Independent Catholic Church although I believe it is now
defuct.

On the "St Petroc Monastery" page Fr Michael now also
claims to have a theology degree and claims to be "a qualified primary
school teacher". These claims appear to be new ones, never having been
mentioned previously. No verifiable supporting details are provided and
therefore it is not possible to test them. I would discount these until
sufficient details are provided which would allow these claims to be
checked against original sources

-----------------------------------------------------

Update 27th February 2012

The
following web pages from the University of Tasmania are badly out of
date. Many of the people listed are no longer at the University and the
Chaplaincy centre at 40 Alexander St was sold in December 2011 (for
$410,000)

http://www.support-equity.utas.edu.au/religious/

http://www.kingston.org.au/utas_chaplaincy/

It
it not clear whether Fr Michael has any further role at the University
since the premises in which he has had an office is no longer available
and he appears to have no students involved with him.

In fact it
appears that since he has no involvement with the mainstream ROCOR
community in Hobart he may not have any practical on-the-ground role
there at all.

ROCOR has confined him to activities solely in
Tasmania and therefore, in practical terms, this leaves him with
essentially nothing to do.

----------------------------------------------------------

Update 7th March, 2012

Fr Michael has amended his facebook page.

Previously he claimed to be:

"Assistant to Metropolitan Hilarion for the United Kingdom."

Now he has changed the wording to

"Assistant to Metropolitan".

It is not clear what this means.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Update 26th July, 2012

Michael
Wood returned to Hobart, Tasmania from Scotland in March 2012. His
facebook page still states that he lives in Edinburgh. Recent entries
on his fb page include numerous photos of country houses and churches in
the UK, and most recently he has started to publish some homilies.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Update 28th November 2012

Michael
Wood, now in semi or full retirement, returned to Edinburgh some time
ago and has been active on Facebook. He has started yet another new
website and continues to comment on various matters regarding the
Anglican and other churches. Also he has made some new entries in his
previously defunct "Ely Forum".

While his FB page and wordpress
websites still allude to him holding a senior and influential role
within ROCOR (Assistant to Metropolitan, a site of Saint Petroc
Monastery, a monastery blessed to the Western Rite by Metropolitan
Hilarion, and directly under his personal oversight) the reality is that
ROCOR appears to have retired him.

-------------------------------------------------

Update 6th March 2013

Metropolitan
Hilarion issued the following decree several weeks ago. It appears that
this suspension and forceable retirement of Fr Michael and withdrawal
of blessings for his websites is permanent.

http://www.rocor.org.au/February 23, 2013No. 2-28-13

In
view of his vio[l]ations of the canons by disrespect of the person of
the Patriarch and other members of the Hierarchy, lengthy absences from
his parish in Hobart, Tasmania, causing spiritual neglect of the
faithful of his church community, and the constant inflammatory and
unedifying negative comments which he publicly broadcasts within the
religious media, bringing disrepute to the Orthodox witness of the
Western Rite movement, Hieromonk Michael (Mansbridge-Wood), cleric of
the Australia and New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church
Outside of Russia, is hereby suspended and relieved of all his priestly
duties and obligations concerning the Western Rite in the United Kingdom
and elsewhere, and is retired from active service in the Church. Given
the above, any and all blessings for his websites are hereby withdrawn.

(signed)+Hilarion

Metropolitan Hilarion,Archbishop of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand,First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

In
the past Fr Michael was able to claim both a close working relationship
with and a high degree of personal support from Metropolitan Hilarion.
This relationship appeared to evaporate when Fr Michael was suspended
in May 2011 and he was removed from his position as personal assistant
to the Metropolitan.

In this latest decree, the Metropolitan very
forcefully and clearly disavows any endorsement or support that Fr
Michael was previously able to claim.

Does this finally mean the end of Fr Michael's evangelical endevours? Time will tell.

------------------------------------

Update 9th March 2013

It
is difficult to see how Michael Wood will continue with his evangelical
endeavours unless ROCOR releases him from his ordination vows so that
he can try to affiliate with a different jurisdiction.

In the
meantime there are still many websites that contain obsolete
information. Most appear to be directly under the control of SPM.
There are several others that describe their activities as being "under
the guidance of SPM".

Most or all of them still claim Fr Michael
to be assistant to the Metropolitan, although that hasn't been the case
since May 2011. All of these websites now contain incorrect
information about his role and status within ROCOR and will need to be
either decommissioned or altered. These include the following, but
there could be others as well.

http://perthorthodox.blogspot.com.au/

http://stpetrocmonastery.blogspot.com.au/

http://orthodoxwesternrite.wordpress.com/st-petroc-monastery/

http://hobartorthodox.blogspot.com.au/

http://forwardinorthodoxfaith.blogspot.com.au/

http://elyforum.yuku.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Saint-Petroc-Monastery/124315970944557

http://launcestonorthodox.blogspot.com.au/

http://saintbrendanoss.blogspot.com.au/

http://orthodoxchristianwest.blogspot.com.au/

---------------------------------------------------------

Update 3rd April 2013

Recently
Fr Michael was suspended, retired and “de blessed” by Metropolitan
Hilarion; ending up in a situation that seems to be just one step short
of having been defrocked. Now Fr Michael has published a letter saying
amongst other things that “I think the time has come for me to part
company with ROCOR.” This is most curious and akin to someone deciding
to resign after having already been fired.

From http://westernorthodoxchristian.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/fr-michael-woods-leaves-rocor-mp.html

In
1997 as a former Anglican, born and brought up in the Church of England
and a clergyman of the Continuing Anglican church, I was received,
Baptised, Chrismated, Ordained and Tonsured in the Orthodox Church by
his Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion.

At that time ROCOR was barely
in communion with any outside jurisdiction, reckoned by many (most?) as
uncanonical and yet highly regarded as holding fast to genuine
Orthodoxy. It had for many years been led by a series of First Hierarchs
of the greatest integrity, men held in awe by many Orthodox people
around the world.

ROCOR eschewed false ecumenism, regarding it as an heresy, it did not recognise the "sacraments" of any non-Orthodox church.

I felt thoroughly in tune with the ROCOR of those days.

When
the rapprochement with the Moscow Patriarchate was first mooted, I was
unhappy, having served in a position where I was privy to the communist
government's fifty year control of its 1947 creation, and in particular
of its complete control of the DECR and its use of it as an adjunct to
other government external agencies.

However I and other clergy in
ROCOR decided to sit it out, since we did not expect it to happen in
under ten years. We were surprised at the sudden crumble of ROCOR into
almost instant rapprochement. Nevertheless we decided to continue in
ROCOR and see what happened.

Since that time, I have seen nothing
so disappointing as the vast changes within ROCOR, even evident on the
clergy email list. The ready acceptance of Moscow's misleading
statements designed to cover their real motives regarding the so-called
ecumenical movement, their acceptance of Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev)
and his ongoing flirtations with Rome, their readiness to accept as
"traditional' anything that Moscow presently does. So the whole of
liberal Moscvism surges through ROCOR leaving perhaps a few isolated
islands of old fashioned Orthodoxy.

This has weighed heavily on
my conscience for the past few years but against that I had to balance
my loyalty to my Metropolitan who had received Baptised and Ordained me.
A few weeks ago, as you know, I was suspended and retired. What you may
not know is that there was no warning and I have not seen the evidence
against me nor been given any chance by my bishop (the Metropolitan) to
defend myself.

Regarding the accusations in the decree of
suspension-retirement: As to “bringing disrepute to the Orthodox witness
of the Western Rite movement” I am at a loss and if I didn't consider
the situation tragic I might laugh. ROCOR's Western Rite Vicariate is
largely composed of rapidly received ex-vagantes whose history and
behaviour has already brought disrepute of a magnitude I could never
produce (what else do you call it when another jurisdiction has to
intervene to prevent an ordination?) and will – as many of you have
stated recently – bring much much more major scandal in the near future.
I have no recollection of disrespecting the patriarch, in fact the last
thing I said about him publicly was that he was very well placed to
lead the re-evangelising of Europe if he so chose.

My friends and
I have received a barrage of vicious pseudonymous email recently (and
for some years in the past) from two sources in ROCOR – forgive me – too
stupid to cover their tracks. I have seen episcopal injustice (spurious
charges and no opportunity to reply) and summary dismissal. Bishops in
ROCOR and other jurisdictions have observed all this and have warned
myself and some others of us of the likely consequences of incompetent
leadership. They have characterised some of these matters as blatantly
uncanonical.

I think the time has come for me to part company with ROCOR.

I
have accordingly, held a meeting of the main people of our Hobart
mission, where I explained to them what has happened, the vicious
politics and the changes in ROCOR. I told them that I could no longer
stay in ROCOR. They were already aware of some of my feelings. The
Mission will remain intact under Metropolitan Hilarion, with Fr Barry in
charge - as has been the practice for some considerable time.

Hieromonk Michael (Wood)

In other news Fr Michael has also declared on his fb page:

On
the 15th of March, I was notified in writing of my reception by his
eminence, Metropolitan Daniel of the Metropolitanate of Moscow (TOC-R).
This was followed by the necessary decrees. The decrees stated that I am
a Hieromonk of Metropolitan Daniel's diocese, resident in the United
Kingdom.

The reaction hasn't all been positive. The following 2
critical comments appeared momentarily on his fb page before he deleted
them. In the end, selective deletion of comments critical of Fr Michael
on a forum that purports to be open is not likely to serve him well nor
enhance his credibility.

Nick Katich All the sanctimony...and
then this? Something is "wrong" in "Denmark". I see comments were
deleted about this and the non-canoniciyty of this new jurisdiction. I
assume this one will be deleted as well. Best wishes in a non-canonical
jurisdiction. Maybe our common "friends" will see this before you delete
it. Maybe the will see this site as well:
before you delete it. And I
actually liked you. Peace.6 minutes ago

Christos
Jonathan Seth Hayward I have not enjoyed times when someone said, "We're
just going to give you some basic information" and in fact it is NOT
just basic information, but basic information, plus pressure to dig deep
into their projects, plus several other things.

You have not merely transferred to a new bishop. You have transferred from the true Cistern to one that is broken.6 minutes ago

In
writing this blog I have come to find that there is generally much less
to SPM than meets the eye. In the "leaving ROCOR" letter Fr Michael
appears to portray himself as an innocent "victim" of forces and
circumstances. The letter indicates a sense of denial by Fr Michael that
he had any personal responsibility for his plight, or absence of
success, or his ultimate fall from grace and that everyone is at fault
except him.

He expresses disappointment with the direction
that ROCOR has taken. However non of this disappointment was evident
until his loss of position of influence as assistant to Metropolitan
Hilarion in recent years.

He refers to vicious politics yet
he and a small band of his devotees participated in the most divisive,
ferocious and pugilistic interactions with his detractors on many forums
over many years.

He states that he is at a loss to
understand the lack of warning the reason for his suspension and
retirement even though he was previously suspended and reinstated for
similar reasons

He states that "ROCOR's Western Rite
Vicariate is largely composed of rapidly received ex-vagantes" yet seems
to forget that until ROCOR his former clerical status clerical
provenance was regarded as far from unquestionable.

In
terms of the future direction of SPM and Fr Michael that nothing has
changed except the "organizational vehicle" in which he now travels.

He
again now starts from square one but with a record of past failures and
a blemished record from ROCOR. During the 16 years that he was under
the ROCOR banner he achieved nothing visible. Now, with this blemished
record, and operating under a different and much less known and
illustrious banner, he is again going to try to evangelise the west from
the same starting position that he was in 16 years ago.

------------------------------------------------------

Update 5th April 2013

Fr Michael's appointment and transition to a new jurisdiction has already created unease and suspicion about his envisaged role.

see
http://nftu.net/editorial-open-season-american-west-european-metropolias/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FNFTU+%28Notes+From+the+Underground+Orthodox+News%29

The article is headedEditorial: Is it “Open Season” on the American and West European Metropolias?and includes the following paragraphs which seem to reflect at least one reaction to this new endeavour

"......
It is with this background in mind that initial plans were in the works
for the annual meeting in Greece between the heads of the three
Churches. That was, of course, before the reception of a priest who had
actually convinced clerics of the former Milan Synod Archdioceses just a
few years ago to secretly commemorate the Moscow Patriarchate,
eventually leading to small schisms from what would become the American
Metropolia. Already clerics have expressed suspicion that Fr Michael’s
move was carefully orchestrated to attack the Metropolia “from inside”.

Sources
within NFTU have heard Metropolitan John’s immediate concern is that
the Russians may inadvertently allow the use of Anglican services into
the communion and has asked, on the basis of his experience and
jurisdiction, to review Fr Michael’s plans.

Considering the
treatment of Metropolitan Onufrie in January, and considering the TOC-R
has just moved into the British Isles not with the intent of
establishing a metochion but a British mission, we are forced to ask if
perhaps he should have a different primary concern......"

------------------------------------

15th April 2013

SPM now has a new website

http://stpetrocmonastery.blogspot.com.au/

27th April 2013

Even
while the flat in which St Petroc Monastery, Hobart, is being vacated,
decommissioned and closed down, Michael Mansbridge Wood is now
featured on yet another new website. He now holds the title of Right
Reverend Abbot Michael

http://forwardinorthodoxfaith.blogspot.co.uk/

The website presents him in the following way:

The Right Reverend Abbot Michael. Administrator for the British Isles.

Western Rite Orthodoxy in the British Isles has been determined by the
Holy Synod in Moscow to be administered by Metropolitan Daniel, who has
appointed Abbot Michael to assist him. Abbot Michael was raised to his
present status by the Holy Synod in April 2013.

The Synod discussed the whole question of the United Kingdom and Western
Europe, having been addressed by Metropolitan Daniel on the subject of
the secularisation of western society at all levels and the problems
facing the Church of recalling the west to its Christian roots.

The British Isles and Western Europe will be administered from within the UK
with the Administrator living in a monastic hermitage and travelling
all over the UK and Europe, with outreach already in both the United
Kingdom and Europe.

An advisory group of laity is in the process of being set up to work on ways and means of operating in the UK and Europe.

Those interested in having a serious UK Orthodox Church rooted in our culture, with a resident hierarchy, should talk to Abbot Michael.

He can be contacted by email at frmichaelnw5@gmail.com or by phone on 07956 4189626

Since
St Petroc Monastery will soon cease to exist there will be no further
activity involving SPM and it would hardly be appropriate to maintain
this blog as a continuing account of SPM's evangelical endeavours.

Also
I'm not sure how enlightening it would be to continue to record, even
in this new "reincarnation", the evangelical activities of Michael Owen
Mansbridge Wood. After all this reinvention process has become quite
repetitive and predictable.The
process seems to involve a new beginning with a great flurry of
fanfare, a grand vision, no mention of past failures the adoption of
impressively sounding titles of questionable provenance, the
establishment of multiple websites claiming great successes and a large
following. Eventually, on the basis of past experience, most claims are
likely to be shown to be highly inflated and transient. For instance,
after all the years of activity under the SPM banner, the numerous
websites, claims of huge numbers of active missions and entities under
the "guidance" of SPM the end residual reality seems to be to no more
than 2 of three commited devotees.During the past 20 years MMW has been:

The Venerable Father
Michael, Archdeacon of London and Administrator of the Diocese of
Lambeth, within the Continuing Anglican Confession

An Antiocian temporarily
placed under the direct obedience to the Patriarchate in Damascus

A ROCOR Hieromonk

The Abbot of SPM

In his new role he is described as the Right Reverend Abbot and refers to "Those interested in having a serious UK Orthodox Church rooted in our culture, with a resident hierarchy".

Presumably
he is saying that those few who he may have attracted to ROCOR
orthodoxy are now not getting the best; and they would now benefit by
leaving ROCOR and joining him in his new organisation which is "a
serious UK Orthodox Church rooted in our culture" and which has (him?)
as resident hierarchy. Essentially he appears to be "poaching on his
old patch". A most curious and bizarre state of affairs!

16th May 2013

Fr Michael has created yet another website
to launch his new missionary initiative. The "about us" page once
again describes a grand and ambitious vision to evangelise the UK and NW
Europe with his particular flavour of Orthodoxy.

as at Sunday, 16 June 11:29:45 p.m.(GMT ) presents,
so far without any attribution or acknowlegement, the work of Professor
Greg Carey which was originally published in the Huffington Post, and
reprinted elsewhere. This is not a good look for someone who purports to
occupy the high moral and spiritual ground.

As in the past, the attribution is likely to come eventually (or the page removed) when confronted.

"THE FUTURE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Imagine a world in which the average life expectancy for women
is 25 or 30 years, where men’s average life expectancy is more like 40.
Imagine a world in which the average woman must complete pregnancy at
least five times — just to hold up her share of the population. Imagine
cities in which perhaps one in three inhabitants are slaves. Imagine
living on a street lined with four- or five-story apartment buildings, a
street only six or eight feet wide and served by no public plumbing.
Imagine living with no meaningful police force, where the strong almost
always get their way and violence frequently resolves conflicts.What would religion look like in a world like that?

Religion offered two major benefits for most people in the Roman
Empire: protection and belonging. You and I may have learned about the
classical Greek gods in university, but the early Christians (those who
were not Jews) inhabited a richly populated spiritual universe. Local
gods, regional gods, professional gods, family gods and household gods
expected recognition and required satisfaction. Evil spiritual forces
also lurked, threatening to harm the unobservant. Acknowledging the
gods, whether through direct personal worship or through public
festivals and ceremonies, provided protection for households and
communities. Moreover, honouring the gods fostered community, as trade
guilds, burial societies, ethnic groups, and extended families linked
religion to their diverse group identities.
Earliest Christianity offered one alternative movement in that
complicated spiritual economy. Emerging from Judaism, a significant
ethnic and religious minority identity in its own right, the first
churches stood among those ancient religious movements that offered
individual mystical experience, promised the ability to transcend death
and cultivated alternative communal relationships. Their competition
included popular philosophical movements that trained people to
discipline themselves in order to transcend suffering and respond to
Fate (capital F) with freedom and equanimity..."

20th June 2013

Just
out of curiosity I'm interested to see how long this page remains in
existence or there is a reference to the original author of this
material.

So far its still there and unattributed as at: Thursday, 20 June8:28:33 a.m(GMT + 0:00)

I'll
check every few days. I have found it prudent and fruitful to run any
material from Fr Michael's various sites through a pragiarism checker
just to make sure it is his own actual work.

22 june-still unattributed. Professor Carey is aware of this and I have an email from him saying amongst other things that: " It's indeed a pretty shameless use of my work"

23rd June 2013

Just checked another of the pages on Fr Michael's latest website today:

http://westernriteorthodoxuk.com/the-anglo-saxon-church/

Large sections of this (unattributed) come from:

http://www.anglosaxonanglicans.org/origins/anglo.htm

24th June 2013

Fr Michael does indeed have a way with words. I
recall him describing the self named block of flats "St Petroc House" in
Hobart and SPM as “…being presently in a leased building which belongs to an unrelated secular organisation…” i.e. a rented flatI wonder about the following?

http://westernriteorthodoxuk.com/the-diocese-today/

"....We are building a small chapel on private land in Edinburgh...."
Does this mean a garden shed in someone's backyard?

He also has a novel way of justifying the use and appropriation of other people's work without acknowlegement or attribution.
http://worulde.wordpress.com/

"..... We have decided not to attribute particular articles as they
tend to be either collaborations or arise out of conversations about
things we have seen and heard".

However he does not extend the same largesse to others, stating on the masthead of his ely forum
( http://elyforum.yuku.com/) that:

"Copyright is asserted over the contents of this board. Those
copying material from this board for reproduction elsewhere on the
internet will be pursued."

27th June 2013

24th July 2013

Fr Michael continues to both have a way with words
and with a way of improving his c.v.. See below for Fr Michael's
recollections on facebook (24th July 2013) about his time in the Royal
Australian Air Force.

The picture he paints is stirring and rosy but far removed from the facts in his air force file.

"I served in the Air Force (with a "Royal" in front). [ that's true]

And while I was in it, I
actually did a lot of flying - mostly of course with instructors.
[That could be true but it was always as a passenger-after all he was a clerical assistant with no flyer training or role]

I have to say
that it was the extremely high quality of the men that I served with that
survives all these years.
[that's probably true but the
reports in his air force file show that their view of him was not
reciprocated by either his compatriots or his superiors]

I lost touch with most of them, virtually my only
contact being with a retired Air Vice Marshall who lives near me, and (until he
died) with a survivor of the Dambusters and latterly via an internet site.

But
they were men of quality, real men, men whom I could admire, with whom I was
glad to serve/serve under, men whom I respected enormously." [Again
this view was not reciprocated. The air force file shows that his
superior's decided to approve his early discharge from the RAAF because
they considered he was "of little use to the service"]

26th July 2013

Fr Michael continues to confound. I googled one of the sentences in his fb post above and was presented with the following url.

I
served in the Air Force (with a "Royal" in front). And while I was in
it, I actually did a lot of flying - and of course with instructors. I
have to say that it was the extremely high quality of the men that I
served with that survives all these years. I lost touch with most of
them, virtually my only contact being with a retired Air Vice Marshall
who lives near me, and (until he died) with a survivor of the
Dambusters and latterly via this internet site. But they were men of
quality, real men, men whom I could admire, with whom I was glad to
serve/serve under, men whom I respected enormously.

Royalistflyer is credited with 49 posts since 2010. So, is this another persona adopted by Fr Michael?

Also I notice in

http://forwardinorthodoxfaith.blogspot.co.uk/

that Fr Michael has improved his title by adding "The Right Reverend"

"The Right Reverend Michael (Wood)Administrator for the British Isles."

Is
this a self bestowed title I wonder. Given the wikipedia description
below this title seems to be very grand and inappropriate for and
individual without church or flock living in a suburban bungalow in
Edinburgh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_Reverend

16th December, 2013

Fr Michael has produced an inaccurate and misleading version of his role in a history of WR on the following page http://orthodoxwesternrite.wordpress.com/history/

"2010: The Primate of ROCOR brought ten former Anglican/Roman parishes with their clergy into ROCOR as WRITE.The Primate issued a Decree naming the Superior of Saint Petroc
Monastery, Fr. Michael (Wood) as his Assistant for the UK, including
Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Far East for Western Rite, and
the Superior of Christminster Monastery Fr. James (Deschene) as his
Assistant for North America for Western Rite.

2011: The Hermitage of Saint George took possession of 48 acres of land in New Mexico for the construction of a monastery.2012:The Primate issued a letter naming Fr. Michael (Abbot of Saint
Petroc Monastery) as in charge of Western Rite missions in his Diocese.

2013The Holy Synod of the Metropolitanate of Moscow decided to
raise a diocese covering the United Kingdom and north western Europe.
It named Metropolitan Daniel as the ruling bishop and Abbot Michael as
the Administrator. It raised Abbot Michael to the title Abbot of
Edinburgh as a territorial abbot.

2013 The Administrator of the UK diocese Abbot Michael took up residence in Edinburgh.

Missing and/or is inaccurate or misleading in his version of history are the following:

That
in 2011 Fr Michael was suspended from all priestly duties by ROCOR and
removed from his position as Assistant to Metropolitan Hilarion. Later
that year the suspension was lifted but Fr Michael was confined solely
to his parish duties in Tasmania.

That in 2013 Fr was
suspended, retired and "all blessings withdrawn" by Metropolitan
Hilarion. Later that year Fr Michael "left" ROCOR. Subsequently he was
appointed as a priest by a different Church. Again, Fr Michael has a
way with words to improve the complexion of his history.

3rd March 2014

Fr Michael or, as he prefers to call himself,
Abbot Michael appears to have found permanent lodgings in the house of
his former novice in suburban Edinburgh and has essentially retired.

He
has built a garden shed chapel, and interacts on FB with a mixed cohort
of friends/followers. There is no indication of any achievements of
substance in his evangelical role with his new Orthodox Church
affiliation.

29th May 2014

Is Fr Michael back with ROCOR after a stormy and
colourful career culminating in his "being retired from" and his
subsequent decision to leave ROCOR and become "Abbot of Edinburgh" with a
rival organisation? His FB page says that he was in Sydney, Australia
earlier this week and the photos were taken then. He is pictured
sitting with Met Hilarion at an ordination ceremony involving a novice
with whom he was associated with several years ago. So, if this is true
then ROCOR also moves in mysterious ways.

Alternatively
its also quite possible that these photos were actually taken much
earlier than claimed- perhaps prior to MW's "departure" from ROCOR.

Pictures from Fr Michael's facebook page

31st May, 2014

That page as at 31/5/2014 (edited 27/4)

Western
Rite Orthodoxy is alive and well in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside
Russia (contact Metropolitan Hilarion) (USA, Canada, UK, Germany) the
Antiochian Orthodox Church (USA) the Romanian Orthodox Church (France)
the Serbian Orthodox Church (Switzerland).

Western Rite Orthodoxy in the British Isles has been determined by the
Holy Synod in Moscow to be administered by Metropolitan Daniel, who has
appointed Abbot Michael to assist him. Abbot Michael was raised to his
present status by the Holy Synod in April 2013.

The
Synod discussed the whole question of the United Kingdom and Western
Europe, having been addressed by Metropolitan Daniel on the subject of
the secularisation of western society at all levels and the problems
facing the Church of recalling the west to its Christian roots.

The British Isles and Western Europe will be administered from within the UK
with the Administrator living in a monastic hermitage and travelling
all over the UK and Europe, with outreach already in both the United
Kingdom and Europe.

An advisory group of laity is in the process of being set up to work on ways and means of operating in the UK and Europe.

Those interested in a serious UK Orthodox Church rooted in our culture, with a resident hierarchy, should contact us by email at frmichaelnw5@gmail.com or by phone on 07956 4189626

1st June, 2014

Perhaps it is a little premature to say "he's
back". Both he and Metropolitan Hilarion have so far been silent about
this. Clearly though, he has stopped publicising his affiliation with
the "True Orthodox Church-Russia" and has given a plug to ROCOR.
Perhaps he's just trying to work his way back.

What a
tangled web! MW's journey back to ROCOR will require a lot of mental
gymnastics by many people including MW and Metropolitan Hilarion.

Note 1February 23, 2013
No. 2-28-13
In view of his vio(l)ations of the canons by disrespect of the
person of the Patriarch and other members of the Hierarchy, lengthy
absences from his parish in Hobart, Tasmania, causing spiritual neglect
of the faithful of his church community, and the constant inflammatory
and unedifying negative comments which he publicly broadcasts within the
religious media, bringing disrepute to the Orthodox witness of the
Western Rite movement, Hieromonk Michael (Mansbridge-Wood), cleric of
the Australia and New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church
Outside of Russia, is hereby suspended and relieved of all his priestly
duties and obligations concerning the Western Rite in the United Kingdom
and elsewhere, and is retired from active service in the Church. Given
the above, any and all blessings for his websites are hereby withdrawn.
(signed)
+Hilarion
Metropolitan Hilarion,
Archbishop of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand,
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

Reverend Hieromonk Michael (Mansbridge-Wood)
5/18 March 2013.
Decree 04
Taking into account the letter of release 2-28/13 on February 23,
2013 His Eminence Hilarion, Metropolitan of Eastern America and New
York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as a
petition filed by Hieromonk Michael (Mansbridge-Wood), about taking it
to the fold True Orthodox Church, Fr Michael (Mansbridge-Wood) is
accepted into the clergy of the diocese of Volokolamsk and Kolomna True
Orthodox Church.
God help you!
+ Metropolitan Volokolamsk and Kolomna DANIEL
Reverend Hieromonk Michael (Mansbridge-Wood)
5/18 March 2013.
Decree 05
The place of service Hieromonk Michael (Mansbridge-Wood) is determined United Kingdom

Note 3

http://www.synod.com/synod/eng2013/20130712_print_ensynodmeeting.html

NEW YORK: July 12, 2013An Extraordinary Session of the Synod of Bishops is Held

On
Wednesday, July 10, 2013, an extraordinary session of the Synod of
Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was held,
presided over by its First Hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion
of Eastern America and New York. Participating in the meeting were
permanent members of the Synod of Bishops: His Eminence Archbishop
Mark of Berlin and Germany; His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San
Francisco and Western America; His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel of
Montreal and Canada, and His Grace Bishop Peter of Cleveland,
Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America.

Deliberating on the matter of Bishop Jerome of Manhattan, the Synod of Bishops made a decision as follows:

“During a
meeting of the Synod of Bishops on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, presided
over by the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, A DECISION WAS MADE: on the activities of Bishop Jerome of Manhattan, Vicar of the President for the Administration of Western Rite Parishes.

After exhaustive deliberation, IT WAS DECREED:

1) To halt the ordination of new clergymen for parishes adhering to the Western Rite.

2) To
censure Bishop Jerome for his willfulness in administering the
parishes adhering to the Western Rite, and in performing various
ecclesial services not approved by the Synod of Bishops, and for
criticizing his brethren in letters to clergy and laity.

3) To deny
recognition of the ordination of a group of individuals by Bishop
Jerome during a single divine service, and to regularize them
following a thorough examination of the candidates.

4) To
release Bishop Jerome from all duties, including those of Vicar of the
President in administering Western Rite parishes, designating him as
retired without the right to serve in the Synodal Cathedral “of the
Sign” in New York, or to perform ordinations or award clergymen, and
designating his place of residence at St Vladimir Memorial Church of
the 1000th Anniversary of the Baptism of Russia in Jackson, NJ.

5) To bless
Bishop Jerome to perform divine services within the confines of the
Eastern American Diocese with the consent of its Ruling Bishop.

6) To
release Monk Anthony (Bondi) from all of his administrative duties and
from the spiritual ministry to the Vicariate of Western Rite
Parishes.

7) To
establish a commission to examine the means of integrating clergymen
and communities of the Western Rite into the liturgical life of the
Russian Orthodox Church, consisting of: Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern
America and New York, President; Bishop George of Mayfield, Vicar of
the Eastern American Diocese; Protopriest David Straut of the Eastern
American Diocese, and Protopriest Anthony Nelson of the Mid-American
Diocese.

8) To
address an epistle to the clergymen and communities of the Western
Rite regarding the need for them to adopt the order of divine services
of the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church, while preserving, when
necessary, certain particularities of the Western Rite.

9) To
emphasize our adherence to the rules and traditions of the Eastern
Orthodox Catholic Church in general and of the Russian Orthodox Church
in particular.

10) To deem
this decree immediately valid and to submit it to the members of the
Council of Bishops in the form of a questionnaire for confirmation.”

The meeting concluded with the singing of “It is Truly Meet.”

2nd August, 2014

MMW has returned to Hobart for the time being.
It appears that he is again back with ROCOR; but in what capacity if
any? Both he and ROCOR are silent but he is now referring people to
Met. Hilarion again, and there is no mention whatsoever of his most
recent mentor, His Eminence, Daniel, Metropolitan Archbishop, Metropolitanate of Moscow. Instead there is now a reference:

http://orthodoxwesternrite.wordpress.com/st-petroc-monastery/

"The chapel of Saint Mary the Virgin built
next to the new temporary Monastic house in Edinburgh in 2014, under the
omophorion of His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of
ROCOR"

So, I expect that any follower of MMW would be somewhat confused.

13th August, 2014

MMW is now back Scotland. Still no mention of
his current status and provenace of his title of "Abbot". I am curious
to see what might appear in his FB under the "Works at Orthodox Church"

From his FB page

"Abbot Michael

Our
new temporary shrine to Saint John of ShangHai, with its flesh relic of
Saint John having just arrived in Scotland a few days ago. The relic
was given us by his Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of ROCOR. Saint John please pray for our endeavours here in Scotland."

So his brief affiliation with the Volokolamsk and Kolomna True
Orthodox Church is apparently at an end.

5th September, 2014

Yet another new website! Back with ROCOR. "Reblessed". Probably in a "retired" capacity. Stranger than fiction!

Abbot Michael

8th September, 2014

I've
looked at the website which is, as a virtual "imaginary hermitage",
well established but there is nothing on the ground. In fact there
there is no ground!

I
always thought a hermit was someone who seeks solitude and spends their
time in prayer and penance. Is a hermitage with a website and loud and
ongoing active web web presence an oxymoron Fr Michael? I'll check
you fb page occasionally for your answer.

2nd October, 2014

Fr Michael and his former novice have rejuvinated one of the older websites. The site

http://stpetrocmonasteryfaq.blogspot.co.uk/

now
includes a potted version - in the form of an "interview" with MW-of
their view of the the history of MW and of SPM. Not surpisingly, this
version puts a very rosy and favourable complexion on the past
activities of MW. Also, it is very selective. In many cases the events
described in the interview are highly exaggerated or at variance with
the facts. The history also omits any reference to the many failures of
SPM (such as his suspension, and his brief flirtation with the True
Orthodox church).

I'm in Scotland at the moment and may contact Fr Michael for a chat or interview if I can find a little spare time.

18th October, 2014

Just didn't have
time on this visit to contact MW but perhaps next time. If MW does
indeed want to start a hermitage on the road to Iona I saw many places
for sale along the way. One of his colleagues described MW's
achievements during his first 10 years at SPM using the words "nothing
visible has occurred". So perhaps this hermitage idea is yet another
pipe dream of MW. Time will tell.

I've
had another look at the "interview" with MW by his former novice. I
think is more hagiography than interview. Certainly his initial
"questionable" (very questionable) ordination by Grayden is glossed over
as are his unsuccessful efforts to connect with Damascus. What did
strike me though was the way his affiliation with UTAS is portrayed.
Firstly it happened in late 2001/2002 and not 1998.

Secondly his version is:

"Q. Did you enjoy your time as chaplain?

A. Yes, ultimately I did even though I didn't volunteer for it in the
first place - it was an obedience - and I was sorry when it was closed"

Perhaps he
did enjoy it but he also sweated blood to get it; including numerous
representations to UTAS and also to his local member of parliament

Also no mention of his 2 suspensions.

Elsewhere MS states that:

"Way back when I read theology,
I managed to scrape through because of my interest in mediaeval Church history
and liturgics."

I certainly can't find any verifiable evidence of him "reading theology". So when and where did this happen?

On his FB page a few days ago MW said
"The new regime in ROCOR Western Rite is, I believe going to thoroughly
and rigorously investigate the past lives of any clergy attempting to
join ROCOR Western Rite. There will be no easy passage in."

This is a curious and sanctimonious statement given the overall miniscule presence of WR and given his own clerical provenance.

18th December, 2014

Fr Michael has progressed his aspiration
about establishing a hermitage. Nothing on the ground but he has
created yet another website.

22nd December, 2014

Same
old material, making much of inconsequential milestones and omitting
any reference to his reversals including his suspension and forced
retirement. Certainly possible leverage using Metropolitan Hilarion's
name and photo.

The previous day he announced that M. Hilarion had "ordained" Aristibule Adams (SPM's) former "attack dog" to Sub Deacon. Hmm.

It's actually Bournemouth East cemetery chapel near Pokesdown in the south of England.

See: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2740670

I'm
surprised that MW would get this one wrong because he lived in
Bournemouth for a while and used the cemetery chapel several times. And
to say it was "their first chapel" is really stretching things.I guess "they" no longer use it because:

a) he has been forcibly retired by ROCOR,andb) it is 456 miles away from Edinburgh. An 8 hour trip.

23rd January, 2015

12th May, 2015

26th July, 2015

For a
period of about 14 years MW was an active and divisive figure in the Orthodox community,
particularly the Orthodox cyber community through his activities on numerous
discussion groups.

Just to
recap, MW was born in and grew up in Australia. He lived in the USA for various periods in the 1980's and early 1990's. He made his debut as a clergyman in Australia in 1992 after having been ordained into the Anglican Rite
Jurisdiction of the Americas. He claimed
the title of “Archdeacon of Lambeth” in 1994.It appears that this “Anglican Rite” ordination was regarded as unsound
and unacceptable by his contempories he was never formally listed in government marriage celebrant records.Sometime
during the 1990's he approached the Traditional Anglican Communion of Australia
seeking, without success, to be ordained into the TAC.

In the
mid 1990’s MW also made approaches to Archbishop Hilarion presumably with a proposal that, if
given a ROCOR ordination, he would attract a huge number of of disaffected
Church of England parishioners to Western-rite Orthodoxy under the auspices of ROCOR.Archbishop Hilarion must have found MW to be
convincing because in 1997 he did ordain MW and entrusted him with the task of
evangelising the disaffected C of E community.

In MW’s
own words “The primary task assigned by the Archbishop to Saint Petroc
Monastery is to identify and implement the means of bringing the
Anglo-Saxon-Celtic people (the overwhelming percentage of the population) to
return to the Orthodox heritage of the British Isles and western Europe. For
this task, Saint Petroc Monastery, its people and parishes are blessed to the
Western Rite.”

MW became
very active, mainly with his computer keyboard, in an attempt to deliver the results
he had promised.During his attempts at “evangelising
the west” he created a a large number of websites many of which still exist in
various stages of repair.He became an identity
on many of the discussion forums.Ultimately
he had a falling out, and then reconciliation, with his primary sponsor, the now
Metropolitan Hilarion.

To cut a
long story short, in spite of exaggerated claims of success, he failed to
deliver on his original proposal. It seems
that his assessment of the degree and extent of disaffection was simply wrong,
possible having been coloured by his own experiences. MW was himself disaffected with the C of E; partly
I imagine because he himself was rejected in his early days by the C of E as a candidate for ordination.Also MW’s view was that the C of E had made
too many concessions in adapting to social change. In particular he seems to have regarded the
decision by the C of E to ordain women clergy with odium.Perhaps his views about the C
of E was shared by its parishioners but clearly not sufficiently strongly or insufficient numbers
for them to go elsewhere. It appears his favoured brand of Orthodoxy was a church
and liturgy that which was in the same form as existed a thousand years ago.It appears this archaic, severe, uncompromising “sword of the lord” alternative he was
offering was not generally seen as an attractive alternative.

Another
factor in the lack of success of the initiative was MW’s personality.There are
references in the discussion groups to his “eating wasps for breakfast” and
storming out of groups when he could not get his own way. Consequently it appears that he could attract
people to his cause but they never stayed for long.Therefore there was never any cumulative
growth in the number of his adherents.Additionally,
MW was often (usually?) very vague, circumspect and evasive about his qualifications, his
background and achievements.In
the
longer term this fog of vagueness he surrounded himself with did nothing
to
enhance his credibility. I found that most claims he published about
his achievements were impossible to verify because they the vague
inferential way they were presented.

Throughout
his whole career, starting with his years in the Royal Australian Air Force (as
a clerical assistant) he was often able to initially impress but always managed to disappoint
or otherwise fail to deliver on promises and expectations.The SPM initiative was no different.As
always, in spite of creating high expectations, he failed to achieve
his primary task of attracting vast numbers of disaffected Anglicans .

As far
the the mainstream Orthodox community is concerned MW is now irrelevant, of no significance and is forgotten. Therefore I think that the SPM evangelical
initiative which started in 1997 has now ended, with MW retired.

19th December, 2015

From MW’s facebook page

“A new
personal website of mine that you might like. Hopefully it will be pretty
regularly added to:

and this is the article, which has no references or
attributions.

I’ve only looked at a few random paragraphs.His original work?You be the judge!

MW’s version

The Byzantines strove to create a polity entirely Christian
in its principles of government and in its daily life, in fact nothing less
than an attempt to apply the fullness of Christ’s Way.

and

http://readeralexey.narod.ru/ENGLISH/Ware2.html#.VnR6xr-Rb3A

So they strove to create a polity entirely Christian in its
principles of government and in its daily life. Byzantium in fact was nothing
less than an attempt to accept and to apply the full implications of the Incarnation.

MW’s version

This was evident in Byzantine law drawn up under Justinian.
Emperor John Tzimisces: ‘I recognise two authorities, priesthood and empire;
the Creator of the world entrusted to the first the care of souls and to the
second the control of men’s bodies. Let neither authority be attacked, that the
world may enjoy prosperity.”

and

This is the doctrine expounded in the
great code of Byzantine law drawn up under Justinian (see the ... to the first the care of souls and to
the second the control of men's bodies. Let
neither authority be attacked, that the world may enjoy
prosperity.

MW’s version

were two distinct roles, the priesthood and the imperial
power working in close co-operation, yet each being autonomous there was a
‘symphony’ or ‘harmony’ of the two.

and

http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/history3.aspx

vvere two
distinct elements, the priesthood ... the imperial power
(imperium); and while working in close co-opcration, each of ...
Between the two there was a 'symphony' or 'harmony', but
neither element

MW’s version

Byzantine education
followed the ancient Greek educational system that comprised a tripartite
structure but was far more widespread throughout the country The structure
included the elementary school, from six to ten years, secondary school, from
ten to sixteen, and higher education.

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Greeks

Byzantine education was the
product of an ancient Greek educational tradition that stretched back to the
5th century BC.[38]
It comprised a tripartite system of education that, taking shape during the Hellenistic era, was maintained, with
inevitable changes, up until the fall of Constantinople.[38]
The stages of education were the elementary school, where pupils ranged from
six to ten years, secondary school, where pupils ranged from ten to sixteen,
and higher education

11th March, 2016

From MW's fb page

I
was brought up in the English culture. I spent younger years in the
West Country and later lived (Lancaster Gate) and worked for years in
London and of even later years back in the West Country and Scotland. I
have lived in America, Australia, France too."

He's used these words before. I expect the reason is to make it to sound like he grew up in England, is quintessential "English". and infer that he spent some time in far flung places. In fact the obverse is true. He grew up in and spent most of his life in far flung Australia and only 16 or so of his 75 years in other countries. And. just to clarify, "West Country" means "Western Australia".

2nd April, 2016

From MW's fb page

Apparently
Facebook doesn't like military badges to be shown - so I thought I'd
put a few up: The first one is for my brother and I since we both
served in the Air Force

This photo shows the "Royal Air Force" badge. MW "served" in the "Royal Australian Air Force". And, no, he wasn't a pilot, just a clerical assistant according to his RAAF file.

13th August, 2016

I haven't updated this blog for a while because there has been little to comment on. Also the mainstream Orthodox community seems to have lost interest in MW

Earlier this year MW spent time in hospital with a fairly serious illness and from which he has now recovered but been somewhat weakened.

The MW with the ambition as an Orthodox missionary to conquer the christian world seems to have faded away. Instead he now focusses on typical retirement activities such as interacting with his 1,700 odd facebook friends (of which I am one!). For this audience he provides wide ranging commentary on diverse subjects such as aircraft, Brexit, church architecture and Islam.

So where to next for MW and his evangelism? Who knows, but given his age and physical condition I think his future evangelical achievements are likely to be at most modest.

I want to mention Karen Mansbridge-Wood. Before she died earlier this year she told me that she was the third wife of MW, that they were married in the early 1990's, that she had daughter by him. According to Karen there was never a divorce. We exchanged numerous emails and swapped personal impressions about MW. From this exchange of emails I was able to put together a comprehensive picture of MW activities while in the US.

She confirmed that there were restrictions on MW's travel to the US and explained the underlying reasons for this. This is most interesting but I can't share the details here. Karen told me what she thought drove MW to leave the marriage and become obsessed with religion and its pageantry. I'm now very clear about this now but can't share the detail. She did say "Irena had a lucky escape".... MW will know what that means. I liked Karen, I think she got a raw deal in life and I'll miss her.